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79. 


h 


Cnttors  preface. 


"  Bards  of  other  times !  ye  on  whose  souls  the  blue  hosts  of  our  fathers  rise,  strike  the  Harp 
"  in  my  hall,  and  let  me  hear  the  song.  Pleasant  is  the  joy  of  grief ;  it  is  like  the  shower  of  spring 
"  when  it  softens  the  branch  of  the  oak,  and  the  young  leaf  rears  its  green  head.  Raise  the  song, 
"  and  strike  the  Harp  !  send  round  the  shells  of  joy  !  Let  some  grey  bard  be  near  me  to  tell  the 
"  deeds  of  other  times,  of  kings  renowned  in  our  land,  of  chiefs  we  behold  no  more.— Such  was 
"  the  song  of  Fingal  in  the  days  of  his  joy:  his  thousand  bards  leaned  forward  from  their  seats  to 
u  hear  the  voice  of  the  king."  Ossia.n. 


Ireland  from  a  remote  period  has  been  celebrated  for  its  cultivation  of  music,  and  ad- 
mitted as  one  of  the  parent  countries  of  that  art,  yet  the  present  is  the  first  general  collection 
of  its  national  airs ;  most  of  them  are  so  old,  that  their  authors,  and  the  aeras  in  which  they 
composed  them,  are  unknown. 

The  works  of  two  of  the  latest  composers,  Conollan  and  Carolan,  have  before  been 
selected,  but  even  these  partially,  and  from  copies  generally  defective ;  while  most  of  the 
productions  of  their  masters,  to  whom  they  looked  up  with  veneration,  and  of  whose  excellence 
they  have  fallen  short,  are  scarcely  known  in  the  country  where  they  nourished.  To  rescue 
them  from  oblivion,  the  editor,  about  ten  years  ago,  presented  the  public  with  a  volume  of 
their  works  *. 

The  causes  which  retarded  this  publication  justify  the  delay :  the  editor  was  desirous  to 
render  the  collection  so  extensive  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  for  others  ;  to  collate  the  airs 
of  different  provinces  with  each  other;  to  procure  translations  of  some  of  the  finest  songs,  and 
for  several  of  the  airs  best  adapted  for  the  purpose  to  give  English  words  with  an  instrumental 
accompaniment.  To  these  he  wished  to  annex  the  original  poetry  in  the  Irish  character.  His 
aim  was  to  form  a  collection  which  would  comprehend,  as  nearly  as  possible,  all  that  is  valuable 
in  the  ancient  music  of  this  country. 

To  complete  the  plan,  it  was  necessary  to  secure  many  valuable  airs,  hitherto  confined  to 
particular  districts  of  the  kingdom.  In  these  districts,  particularly  Connaught  and  Minister, 
he  has  minutely  and  repeatedly  made  his  researches  in  person,  and  taken  from  instruments, 
and  the  voices  of  old  people,  a  number  of  strains  that  might  not  otherwise  have  survived  the 
singers.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  person  versed  in  the  Irish  tongue,  who  took  down  the 
words;  these  words,  it  is  true,  appear  from  internal  evidence  not  to  be  generally  coeval  with 
the  music.  Often  when  the  strain  is  most  pathetic  or  dignified,  the  sense  of  the  poetry  hears 
little  relation  to  the  expression  of  the  air,  yet,  as  local  curiosities,  they  may  not  be  unin- 
teresting. 


*  Dr.  Crotch,  in  his  course  of  lectures  in  Oxford  and  London,  in  which  he  gave  examples  of  the  different  styles  of 
music,  was  pleased  to  say,  "  that  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work,"  amounting  to  upwards  of  sixty  tunes,  '  more  are 
rery  few  indeed  which  are  not  extremely  fine."  So  flattering  a  compliment  from  an  eminent  judge,  animates  the 
editor's  hopes  with  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  entire  work. 


11 

By  such  means  the  airs  were  secured  in  their  native  pathos;  and  the  words  of  the  best 
tunes  in  their  proper  language  and  character. 

The  editor  has  since  collected  annals  of  the  harpers  for  a  series  of  two  hundred  years  partly 
through  the  aid  of  Arthur  O'Neill,  an  intelligent  and  well  known  harper:  these  proved  too  ex- 
tensive to  be  given  in  this  publication ;  but  the  most  interesting  facts  are  scattered  through  it. 
The  work  includes  specimens  of  the  funeral  cry,  or  caojke,  and  cronan,  of  the  ancient 
Irish,  an  old  Irish  lesson  and  prelude,  played  in  this  kingdom  for  generations,  and  lat- 
terly by  Dennis  Hempson  %  the  harper  of  Magilligan,  from  whom  it  was  taken  down  shortly 
before  his  decease;  besides,  a  modern  lesson  by  Carol  an,  for  the  purpose  of  contrast;  and 
two  CELF.r.n  ated  Irish  airs,  with  their  ancient  variations  as  practised  on  the  Harp  for 
many  years;  with  these  are  given  an  original  melody  or  recitative,  which  the  com- 
piler had  the  fortune  to  discover  as  sung  in  artless  strains  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and 
also  by  the  aborigines  of  different  parts  of  Ireland,  to  Ossianic  fragments. 

TO  THE   MUSIC   IS  PREFIXED 

A  TREATISE  ON  THE  THEBAN,  BRITISH,  AND  IRISH  HARP. 

In  this  there  is  various  original  matter,  connected  with  a  subject  curious  and  little  ex- 
plored :  the  affinity  of  the  present  Harp  to  the  most  ancient  instruments  is  traced,  and  sketches 
given  of  the  ancient  music  in  Wales,  and  in  the  Highlands  and  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  and  an 
account  of  the  bagpipe. 

In  the  concluding  part  of  the  treatise  the  distinctive  difference  between  the  music  of 
Ireland  and  the  aboriginal  music  of  neighbouring  countries  will  be  noticed ;  and  an  account 
given  of  the  principles  upon  which  the  Irish  Harp  is  tuned  and  played ; — of  a  multiplicity  of 
technical  musical  terms  in  the  Irish  language,  respecting  the  instrument,  its  proportions,  and 
measurements,  as  well  as  the  alterations  it  has  undergone  to  the  present  time. 

The  editor's  object  in  this  complicated  undertaking  was  accomplished  at  a  moment  when 
the  Harp  and  harpers  were  verging  so  nearly  to  extinction,  that  the  attempt  would  have 
failed  had  it  been  postponed  to  the  present  day.  He  thus  saved  from  destruction  a  great 
portion  of  that  music  for  which  Ireland  has  been  conspicuous  for  ages.  To  the  merits  of  such 
strains  the  following  passage  well  applies:  "  They  take  the  very  form  and  pressure  of. our 
"  history;  and  the  conflict  of  spirits,  naturally  warm  and  vivacious,  with  the  gloom  which 
"  abasement  and  poverty  would  cast  upon  them,  is  no  where  more  faithfully  recorded  than 
"  in  these  bewildered  melodies,  where  the  strain  often  bursts  into  merriment  unexpectedly, 
"  and  as  often  relapses  from  its  liveliest  expression  into  languor  and  complaining,  as  if  there 
"  were  some  pang  which  they  could  not  forget  even  in  their  mirth  f." 

The  rapid  decrease  of  performers  on  the  Irish  Harp  suggested  the  idea  of  assembling  the 
remaining  Harpers  dispersed  over  the  different  provinces:  a  meeting  was  accordingly  held  at 
Belfast  on  the  12th  July,  1792,  when  no  more  than  ten  could  be  collected,  to  whom  liberal 


*  See  a  portrait  of  Hempson,  taken  in  1797,  Plate  II. 

f  The  author  of  a  late  pleasing  work  might  have  extended  the  following  remark  to  every  bosom  that  is  not  incapable 
of  feeling,  however  exalted  his  rank.  "  In  the  tones  of  the  favourite  tunes  of  his  youth,  he  hears  the  long  lost  voice 
M  of  his  mother,  his  sister,  and  his  youthful  love.  There  is  no  fibre  of  bis  heart  which  does  not  vibrate  to  some  of  his 
"  well-known  strains.  You  cannot  improve  them  to  him ;  you  cannot  restore  him  the  tones  of  affection  which  he 
"  loses  by  any  alteration."—  [Leyden's  Prelim.  Dissert,  to  the  Complaint  of  Scotland.] 


premiums  were  distributed  according  to  their  respective  merits;  of  the  ten,  only  t  o  sufrive 
at  this  day*.  Those,  who  about  twenty-two  years  before  had  heard  the  delicate  tdbcl  es  and 
whispering  notes  of  Dominic  k  Mungan,  the  harper,  knew  the  capability  of  the  instrument, 
and  had  sufficient  reason  to  regret  the  declension  of  the  art. 

The  editor  was  appointed  to  note  down  the  airs  played  on  the  occasion,  and  cautioned 
against  adding  a  single  note  to  old  melodies,  which  would  seem  to  have  passed,  in  their  present 
state,  through  a  long  succession  of  ages.  Though  collected  from  parts  distant  from  each  other, 
and  taught  by  different  masters,  the  harpers  always  played  them  in  the  same  keys,  and  w  ithout 
variation  in  any  essential  passage  or  note.  This  circumstance  seemed  the  more  extraordinary 
when  it  was  discovered  that  the  most  ancient  tunes  were  the  most  per/e<  t,  admitting  of  the 
addition  of  a  bass  with  more  facility  than  such  as  were  less  ancient.  It  was  remarked,  that 
their  instruments  were  tuned  on  one  uniform  system,  though  the  performers  on  them  were 
ignorant  of  the  principle. 

A  principal  motive  in  convening  this  feeble  remnant  of  the  bards,  was  to  procure  purer 
copies  of  tunes  already  in  the  hands  of  practitioners,  and  to  perpetuate  a  variety  of  other 
extremely  ancient  ones,  of  which  no  copies  existed,  and  which  were  therefore  the  more  likely 
to  be  lost;  these  ends  proposed,  were  partially  obtained  by  the  meeting  alluded  to,  and  have 
been  since  perfected  through  the  editor  s  labours. 

Conversant  as  he  is  in  the  compositions  of  the.  Italian  and  German  schools,  he  is  convinced 
that  where  public  taste  is  pure,  the  original  music  of  Ireland  will  be  heard  with  delight.  The 
performer  will  please  to  remember,  that  the  old  melodies  of  a  country,  and  its  language,  are 
analogous ;  that  there  are  idiomatic  delicacies  in  both,  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  which,  practice 
and  strict  attention  to  the  time  of  each  air  are  necessary,  and  that  is  peculiarly  the  case  with 
the  earliest  compositions.  Geminiani,  a  famous  composer  himself,  acknowledged  that  he  had 
blotted  many  a  quire  of  paper  to  no  purpose  in  attempting  to  compose  a  second  strain  to  the 
charming  Scottish  air,  "The  Broom  of  Cowden  Knows -f-,"  which,  compared  with  these,  is  a 
composition  of  modern  date. 

Whatever  the  success  of  this  work  may  be,  the  compiler  has  satisfaction  in  reflecting,  that 
the  greater  part  of  it  consists  of  airs  never  published  before,  and  that  it  was  his  lot  to  arrest 
their  flight  when  on  the  point  of  vanishing  for  ever.  Almost  every  one  of  those  humble 
minstrels,  who  were  the  principal  repositories  of  them,  has  since  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  and 
their  Harps  are  heard  no  more  J. 

The  rolls  of  Fame  I  will  not  now  explore, 

Nor  need  I  here  describe  in  learned  lay 
How  forth  the  minstrel  fared  in  days  of  yore, 

Right  glad  of  heart,  though  homely  in  array, 

His  waving  beard  and  locks  all  hoar)''  grey; 
While  from  his  bending  shoulder  decent  hung 

His  Harp,  the  sole  companion  of  his  way  ; 
Which  to  the  whistling  wind  responsive  rung, 
And  ever,  as  he  went,  some  merry  lay  he  sung. 

Beattie. 


*  A  meeting  of  harpers  similar  to  this  had  been  held  in  1784,  at  Granard  in  the  county  of  Longford,  in  consequence  of 
premiums  offered  by  a  native  of  that  town  settled  in  Denmark, 
f  Dr.  Beattie  on  Poetry  and  Music. 

X  An  attempt  is  now  making  in  Belfast  to  extend  the  existence  of  the  Harp,  by  a  society  of  gentlemen  vvlio  have  raised 
a  liberal  subscription  for  the  purchase  of  instruments  and  the  tuition  of  harpers. 


J.arulvti  PuMishrrf  &/•  £ .  Himtuiq,  A'or?  tUvij  . 


AN 


HISTORICAL  AJVJD  CRITICAL  DISSERTATION 


ON  THE 


Give  me  some  music :— now,  good  morrow,  friends : — 

Now,  good  Cesario,  but  that  piece  of  song, 

That  old  and  antique  song  we  heard  last  night ; 

Methought,  it  did  relieve  my  passion  much  ; 

More  than  light  airs,  and  recollected  terms, 

Of  these  most  brisk  and  giddy-paced  times. 

Mark  it,  Cesario;  it  is  old  and  plain  : 

The  spinsters  and  the  knitters  in  the  sun, 

And  the  free  maids,  that  weave  their  thread  with  bones, 

Do  use  to  chaunt  it ;  it  is  silly  sooth, 

And  dallies  with  the  innocence  of  love, 

Like  the  old  a<re. 


Shak. Twelfth  Night. 


In  the  following  disquisition,  instead  of  pronouncing 
■with  certainty  on  the  aera  in  which  Ireland  received  the 
music  of  her  Harp,  or  the  country  whence  she  imme- 
diately derived  it,  the  principal  documents  and  autho- 
rities extant  shall  be  laid  before  the  reader,  that  he  may 
draw  his  own  conclusions.  Most  of  the  testimonies  ad- 
duced are  borrowed  from  other  nations,  and,  of  course, 
carry  additional  weight  in  favour  of  the  claims  of  this 
country.  It  is  certain  that  the  farther  we  explore,  while 
yet  any  light  remains,  the  more  highly  is  Irish  bardic 
minstrelsy  extolled. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  who  wrote  forty-five  years  A.  C. 
says,  that  the  bards  stept  in  between  hostile  armies 


standing  with  their  swords  drawn  and  their  spears  ex- 
tended ready  to  engage,  and  by  their  eloquence,  as  by 
irresistible  enchantment,  prevented  the  effusion  of  blood, 
and  prevailed  upon  them  to  sheath  their  swords  *.  We 
may  at  least  infer,  that  their  influence  over  the  minds  of 
the  people  was  great  beyond  example  f.  We  learn 
through  him  J,  that  they  sung  their  poems  to  the  music  of 
an  instrument  like  a  lyre;  and  by  Ammianus  Marcellinus§, 
A.  D.  390,  that  they  celebrated  the  brave  actions  of  il- 
lustrious men  in  heroic  poems,  which  they  sung  to  the 
sweet  sounds  of  the  Lyre||.  Strabo,  Diodorus,  and 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  unite  in  declaring  that  thev  ex- 
isted among  the  ruder  branches  of  the  Celtic  tribes  before 


*  Diod.  Sic.  Lib.  v.  chap.  8. 

t  Lucan  I.  calls  the  bard  a  poet  or  prophet. 

One  of  the  most  certain  criteria  of  the  antiquity  of  a  nation,  is  its  being  possessed  of  a  native  or  original  music.  Dr.  Brown  remarks  that, 
'*  Most  countries  peopled  by  colonies,  which  after  a  certain  period  of  civilization  have  issued  from  their  native  soil,  possess  no  characteristic  music 
"  of  their  own;  that  the  Irish,  Welsh,  and  Scotch  are  strictly  natives,  and  accordingly  have  a  music  of  their  own.  That  the  English,  on  the 
"  contrary,  are  a  foreign  mixture  of  lately  established  colonies,  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  have  no  native  music.  He  who  would  rind  the  original 
"  music  of  England  must  seek  it  in  Wales."  [Dr.  B.  on  Poetry  and  Music] 

Carthage  was  a  colony  from  Tyre ;  and  music,  which  was  of  weight  in  the  native  city,  was  of  no  consideration  in  the  descendant  state ;  the 
same  principle  applies  to  all  times. 

t  Diod.  Sic.  v.  §  31.  There  are  also  among  them  makers  of  verses  whom  they  call  bards :  these,  playing  on  instruments  Hi  Lyra,  celebrate 
some  and  revile  others. 

§  Amm.  Marc.  xv.  c,  9.  II  Amm.  Marc.  B.  nr«  c.  9. 


2 


the  time  of  Augustus.   It  is  certain,  that  their  order  was  ] 
more  numerous  and  of  higher  importance  among  the 
Celtic  tribes  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  Mann,  Wales,  Cornwall, 
and  Armorica,  than  among  any  of  the  Gothic  nations. 

Though  it  is  unnecessary  to  refer  to  Druidism  *  to 
prove  the  establishment  of  bards  and  minstrels  amongst 
the  Celtic  nations,  it  is  proper  to  notice,  that  by  the 
Annals  of  Tacitus  it  appears  that  in  Britain,  Suetonius 
Paulinus,  governor  of  the  country  under  Nero,  the  Roman 
emperor,  having  taken  the  island  of  Anglesea,  A.  D.  61, 
not  only  cut  down  the  sacred  groves  of  the  Druids,  in 
whose  order  the  bards  were  comprehended,  and  over- 
turned their  altars,  but  also  consumed  many  of  them  in 
their  own  fires  f.  If,  as  has  been  asserted,  all  who  es- 
caped fled  to  Ireland  J,  the  isles  of  Mann,  and  Bardsey,  it 
may  be  supposed  that  their  music  moved  with  them  §. 
Till  the  sixth  century  we  hear  little  of  them  in  Wales, 
when  the  Britons  again  resumed  the  Harp,  and  animated 
their  country  to  resist  the  Saxon  )oke||. 

We  find  the  bards  in  Ireland  under  the  names  Filea 
and  Fear-Dana,  from  the  earliest  periods  of  its  history, 
down  to  the  year  1738,  when  Carolan  died,  who  seems 


to  have  been  born  to  render  the  termination  of  his  order 
brilliant 

To  that  event  the  following  original  lines  from  the 

pen  of  a  friend  are  apposite : 

The  Harp,  our  glory  once,  but  now  our  shame, 
Followed  my  country's  fate,  and  slept  without  a  name; 
Angelic  Erin  brush'd  it  with  her  wings. 
Surpris'd  by  sudden  life,  the  trembling  strings 
Faintly  set  forth  one  recollective  strain, 
Then  sought  the  quiet  of  the  tomb  again  ! 

The  history  of  the  Irish  bards,  as  Dr.  Brown 
in  his  Dissertation  on  Poetry  and  Music  notices,  is  perhaps 
of  all  others  the  most  extraordinary. 

Invested  with  honours,  wealth,  and  power,  they  pos- 
sessed an  art  which  gave  them  a  commanding  influence. 
Every  chief  bard,  called  Allah  Radan,  or  Doctor  in  Poetry, 
retained  thirty  of  inferior  note;  and  one  of  the  second 
order  fifteen.  It  was  one  of  their  privileges  to  be  billeted 
on  the  country  from  All-hallowtide  to  May,  and  to  be 
exempted  from  taxes  and  plunder  **  !  and  to  wear  a  robe 
of  the  same  colour  of  that  used  by  the  kings. 

We  find  that  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century, 
the  class  called  Poets  ff  were  charged  in  Ireland  with 


*  The  remarks  of  Caesar  on  Druidism  are  highly  satisfactory.  "  The  art  and  learning  of  the  Druids  were  first  found  out  in  Britain,  and 
"  from  thence,  it  is  thought  to  have  been  brought  into  Gaul ;  and  at  this  time,  such  as  will  attain  to  the  perfect  knowledge  of  that  discipline  do, 
"  for  the  most  part,  travel  thither  to  learn  it.  The  Druids  never  go  to  war,  they  are  exempted  from  taxes  and  military  service,  and  enjoy  all 
"  manner  of  immunities.  These  mighty  encouragements  induce  multitudes,  of  their  own  accord,  to  follow  that  profession ;  and  many  are  sent  by 
"  their  parents  and  relations.  They  are  taught  to  repeat  a  great  number  of  verses  by  heart,  and  often  spend  twenty  years  therein,  for  it  is  deemed 
"  unlawful  to  commit  their  statutes  to  writing  ;  though  in  other  matters,  whether  public  or  private,  they  make  use  of  Greek  characters.  They  seem 
"  to  me  to  follow  this  method  for  two  reasons,  to  hide  their  mysteries  from  the  knowledge  of  the  vulgar,  and  to  exercise  the  memory  of  their 
«  scholars.  [Caesar,  B.  vi.  8.] 

t  Tacitus,  Ann.  xiv.  c  30. 

X  Dr.  Parsons  and  Mr.  Tolland  (two  modern  antiquarians)  agree  that  the  Druids  of  the  continent  never  committed  their  mysteries  to  writing, 
but  that  those  of  Ireland  did  ;  also,  that  St.  Patrick  committed  hundreds  of  their  books  to  the  flames. 

[Campbell's  Strictures  on  Ecc.  and  Lit.  History  of  Ireland.] 

It  is  remarkable  that  Brompton,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  says,  that  the  Irish  Harpers  taught  in  secret,  and  committed  their  lessons  to  memory. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Evans,  the  Welsh  antiquarian,  seems  surprised  that  the  compositions  of  Taliesin,  and  other  Cambrian  poets  of  the  sixth  century,  are 
almost  unintelligible  at  present  to  the  best  critics  and  grammarians  in  Wales;  while  the  Erse  (alluding  to  Ossiati's  Poems)  of  the  fourth  century 
are  easily  understood ;  the  reason  is,  that  the  ancient  Welsh  orthography  was  lost,  but  the  Irish  adhered  tenaciously  to  one  uniform  grammar, 
prosody,  and  mode  of  spelling :  had  the  power  and  application  of  their  letters  changed  with  every  dialect,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have 
traced  the  words  to  their  proper  roots,  of  consequence  they  would  become  obscure,  and  afterwards  unintelligible. 

§  It  has  been  asserted  that  Druidism  terminated  in  Britain,  A.  D.  179  5  Bardism,  however,  survived. 

||  Bingley's  H.  Wales.  Powel's  notes  on  Caradoc,  also  his  History  of  Wales.  Clark's  preface  to  the  Welsh  Laws,  and  Ryddcrch's  Welsh 
Grammar. 

^  So  late  as  1581,  Derricke,  in  his  "  Image  of  Ireland,"  says  that  "  the  Irish  barde,  by  his  rimes,  hath  as  great  force  amongst  wood-karne  to 
"  persuade,  as  the  elloquent  oration  of  a  learned  oratour  amongs  the  civile  people."  Barnaby  Rich,  who  visited  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  James  I. 
says,  "  the  Irish  have  Harpers,  and  those  are  so  reverenced  among  them,  that  in  the  time  of  the  rebellion  they  will  forbear  to  hurt  either  their 
"  persons  or  their  goods." 

**  Keating. 

ft  In  '699,  Mr.  Lluid  the  antiquarian,  on  a  visit  to  Ireland,  informs  his  friend  that  near  Lame  he  met  with  one  Eoin  Agnew  (a),  whose 
ancestors  had  been  hereditary  poets  for  many  years  to  the  family  of  O'Neals;  that  the  lands  they  held  thereby  being  taken  away  from  his  father, 
he  had  forsaken  the  Muses  and  betaken  himself  to  the  plough.  "  So,"  adds  he,  "  we  made  an  easy  purchase  of  about  a  dozen  MSS.  on  parchment." 

[Letter  in  the  Philos.  Transact,  vol.  xxvii.  p.  50,  dated  Dec.  15,  1699.] 
In  the  county  of  Cork,  the  O'Dalys  had  the  territory  of  a  small  rugged  tract  called  Minterbairr,  as  successive  bards  or  poets  to  the  O'Mahon 
and  the  Carew.    [Smith's  H.  of  Cork,  vol.  i.  p.  31.] 

**  The  great  men  of  the  Irish  Septs,  among  the  officers  of  their  family,  which  continued  always  in  the  same  races,  had  not  only  a  physician,  a 
"  huntsman,  a  smith,  and  the  like,  but  a  poet  and  a  tale-teller  :  the  first  recorded  and  sang  the  actions  of  their  ancestors,  and  entertained 
"  the  company  at  feasts  ;  the  latter  amused  them  with  tales  when  they  were  melancholy  and  could  not  sleep  ;  and  a  very  gallant  gentleman  of  the 
"  north  of  Ireland,  has  told  me  of  his  own  experience,  that  in  his  wolf-huntings  there,  when  he  used  to  be  abroad  in  the  mountains  three  or 
four  days  together,  and  lay  very  ill  at  nights,  so  as  he  could  not  well  sleep,  they  would  bring  him  one  of  their  tale-tellers,  that  when  he  lay  down 
**  would  begin  a  story  of  a  king,  or  a  giant,  a  dwarf,  and  a  damsel,  and  such  rambling  stuff ;  and  continue  it  all  night  long  in  such  an  even  tone, 
*'  that  you  heard  it  going  on  whenever  you  awaked  ;  and  he  believed,  nothing  physicians  give  could  have  so  good  and  so  innocent  an  effect  to  make 
«  men  sleep  in  any  pains  or  distempers  of  body  or  mind."  [Sir  William  Temple's  Miscellanea,  Part  II.  of  Poetry.] 

(a)  The  present  respectable  family  of  the  same  name,  whose  seat  is  at  Kilwaughter  near  Larne,  is  distinct  from  that  mentioned  above,  the  former  being 
of  Scotch  extraction,  the  latter  of  Irish  blood. 


3 


being  insolent  and  troublesome;  amongst  other  causes  of 
the  royal  displeasure,  they  were  charged  with  demanding 
for  their  order,  the  golden  boddikin  that  fastened  the  king's 
robe,  and  had  been  handed  down  as  a  regal  ornament  from 
one  king  to  another  for  many  reigns  in  succession.  Hence, 
the  reigning  king  Hugh,  A.  D.  558,  or  580,  convened  a 
council  of  the  princes,  nobility,  and  clergy,  at  Drumceat, 
or  Drum-chill,  in  the  county  of  Donegal!,  with  a  view  to 
their  final  expulsion.  They  had  then  become  a  kind  of 
sacred  order  or  college,  and  so  numerous,  that  one-third 
of  the  kingdom  took  shelter  in  their  order  as  an  asylum 
for  idleness  and  ease*. 

To  divert  the  impending  storm,  the  principal  poets 
assembled  to  the  number  of  a  thousand,  and  resolved  to 
retire  to  Scotland  before  the  expected  sentence  of  banish- 
ment should  be  pronounced.  They  were  saved  by  St. 
Columb-cill  f ,  the  Dove  of  the  Cell,  a  presbyter  and  abbot, 
who,  A.  D.  565,  had  gone  from  Ireland  (as  venerable  Bede 
relates)  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  northern  province  of 
the  Pices. 

This  eminently  pious  man  hurried  over  from  his 
peaceful  retreat  in  Iona  or  Hy,  and  procured  liberty 
for  the  poets  to  disperse  over  the  kingdom,  with  a  di- 
minution of  their  numbers,  and  promises  of  amended 
manners  %. 

We  discover  from  the  same  quarter,  that  Connor, 
king  of  Ulster,  allowed  them  to  remain  several  years  in 
Dahiada^;  within  that  province,  at  different  times,  the 
princes  of  Ulster  had  taken  them  under  their  protection  ||. 
They  afterwards  came  into  great  repute,  and  had  lands 
and  revenues  assigned  for  their  maintenance  ^f.  Whoever 
slightly  injured  a  bard  was  fined  126  cows.  The  bards 
preceded  armies  to  battle;  held  their  lands  free;  and  at  the 
three  festivals  of  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsuntide,  sat 
at  the  king's  table. 

Speaking  of  their  productions  in  much  more  modern 
times,  Edmund  Spenser,  the  poet,  says,  so  lately  as 
in  Elizabeth's  reign,  "  I  have  caused  divers  of  them 
"  to  be  translated  unto  me  that  I  might  understand 
"  them,  and  surely  they  savoured  of  sweet  wit  and 


"  good  invention,  but  skilled  not  of  the  goodly  ornaments 
"  of  poetry ;  yet  were  they  sprinkled  with  some  pretty 
"  flowers  of  their  natural  device  which  gave  good  grace 
"  and  comeliness  to  them,  the  which  it  is  great  pity  to  see 
"  so  abused  to  the  gracing  of  wickedness  and  vice,  which, 
"  with  good  usage,  would  serve  to  adorn  and  beautify 
"  virtue." 

With  respect  to  the  musical  compositions  of  the  Irish 
bards,  an  ingenious  critic  and  antiquarian**  has  observed, 
that  the  incomparable  skill  allowed  to  the  Irish  in  music 
could  never  be  predicated  of  unlearned  extemporaneous 
bardic  airs;  that  it  implies  a  knowledge  of  the  diagram, 
and  an  exact  division  of  the  harmonic  intervals;  a  just 
expression  of  the  tones;  and,  in  the  quickest  movements, 
a  unity  of  melody.  An  early  writer  (Cambrensis)  accu- 
rately distinguishes  the  Irish  and  Welsh  styles ;  the  latter 
being  of  the  diatonic  genus,  slow  and  made  of  concords  ; 
the  former,  the  enharmonic  genus,  full  of  minute  di- 
visions, with  every  diesis  marked ;  the  succession  of  the 
melodies  lively  and  rapid,  its  modulations  full  and 
sweet  ff. 

This  transcendant  excellence  could  be  derived  but 
from  two  sources,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  it  as  a  science 
and  practice.  We  are  not,  it  is  true  (he  adds)  able  to 
produce  our  ancient  tablature  or  tunes  from  MSS.  hither- 
to discovered;  but  as  from  Caradoc  it  appears  that  we 
communicated  both  to  the  Welsh,  and  as  they  exist  in 
Mr.  Morris's  collections,  Ave  may  fairly  assume  them  as  our 
own,  and  derivations  from  this  isle.  These  collections 
are  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  very  time  when  Caradoc 
and  Cambrensis  flourished ;  so  that,  connecting  the  evi- 
dence together,  that  we  had  music  in  score  can  hardly  be 
disputed.  What  is  more  extraordinary,  most  of  the  pieces 
for  the  Harp  are  in  full  harmony  and  counterpointJJ. 

Giralous  Cambrensis  §§,  in  A.  D.  1185,  gives  a 
striking  account  of  Irish  music  at  that  period.  That  in- 
genious prelate,  born  in  Wales,  where  music  was  much 
cultivated,  and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  fine  arts 
in  general,  has,  in  his  Itinerary,  the  following  pas- 
sage, in  which  he  prefers  the  music  of  this  country 


*  Keating. 

t  St.  Columb-cill  was  of  the  blood  royal  of  O'Niall  of  the  nine  hostages,  and  founder  of  the  monastery  at  Derry.  The  island  of  Iona,  or  Hv, 
was  a  gift  to  him  by  Brudeus,  king  of  the  Picts,  whom  he  had  converted  to  Christianity.  By  this  celebrated  monastery,  many  others  were  propagated 
in  Ireland  and  Britain,  of  all  which,  this  island  monastery  was  the  chief.  Iona  was  formerly  called  Junis-Druinach,  and  was  possessed  by  the  Druid* 
till  St.  Colunib  occupied  it.    Its  burying  place  is  still  called  Cluodh-nan-Druinach.  [Smyth's  Sean  Dana.] 

J  Campbell's  Ecc.  and  Lit.  H.  of  Ireland.  §  Dalriada,  the  county  of  Down,  and  part  of  the  county  of  Antrim. 

||  Keating.  Cambrensis,  and  others. 

**  Dr.  Ledwich. 

tflt  would  appear  by  Cambrensis's  remarks  on  Irish  music,  that  Ireland  must  have  possessed  the  double  Harp  in  the  twelfth  century,  as  iu 
present  Harp  has  no  semitones,  except  those  incident  to  the  diatonic  genus. 
XX  Df-  Ledwich's  Enquiry  concerning  the  ancient  Irish  Harp. 

§§  Gerald  Barry,  or  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  was  bishop  of  St.  David's  in  Wales,  of  a  noble  Flemish  family  in  Pembrokeshire,  his  mother  being 
descended  from  the  princes  of  South  Wales.  He  had  been  secretary  to  Henry  II.  and  tutor  to  his  son,  prince,  afterwards  king,  John.  He  made  a 
tour  through  Wales  with  bishop  Baldwin,  and  visited  Ireland  twice,  first  with  his  brother  Philip  Barry,  and  his  uncle.  Fn.-stephcn ;  then  with 
prince  John,  who  offered  him  the  united  sees  of  Leighlin  and  Femes.  His  "  Description  of  Wales"  and  "Topography  ol  Ireland"  are  highly 
curious.  Those  who  refuse  assent  to  every  thing  he  has  recorded,  on  account  of  his  having  too  often  indulged  in  U.e  marvellous,  are  certainly  in 
error  ;  since  his  works  contain  a  fund  of  sound  knowledge.  Were  we  thus  to  undervalue  all  our  old  English  authorities,  the  tew  lights  we  have  into 
our  early  annals  would  be  lost.  William,  the  monk  of  Malmslury,  also  dealt  in  wonders,  for  such  was  the  custom  of  their  age.  The  solid  founda- 
tions of  history  are  to  be  found  in  such  authors ;  and  it  is  the  province  of  the  critic  to  clear  away  the  rubbish,  not  to  coudenm  the  whole  for  the  defect 
of  a  part.    Cambrensis  was  born  at  Mainapar  in  Pembrokeshire,  A.  D.  1 14t>,  and  li\  ed  70  years. 


4 


to  all  others  *.  "  The  attention  of  this  people  to  musical 
"  instruments,  I  find,"  said  he,  "  worthy  of  commenda- 
<c  tion,  in  which  their  skill  is  beyond  comparison,  superior 
"  to  that  of  any  nation  I  have  seen.  For  in  these,  the 
"  modulation  is  not  slow  and  solemn,  as  in  the  instruments 
'*  of  Britain  to  which  we  are  accustomed,  but  the  sounds 
"  are  rapid  and  precipitate,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  sweet 
"  and  pleasing.  It  is  wonderful  how,  in  such  precipitate 
"  rapidity  of  the  fingers,  the  musical  proportions  are  pre- 
"  served,  and  by  their  art  faultless  throughout :  in  the 
"  midst  of  their  complicated  modulations,  and  most  intri- 
"  cate  arrangement  of  notes,  by  a  rapidity  so  sweet,  a 
"  regularity  so  irregular,  a  concord  so  discordant,  the 
"  melody  is  rendered  harmonious  and  perfect,  whether  the 
"  chords  of  the  diatesseron  (the  fourth),  or  diapente  (the 
"  fifth)  are  struck  together  ;  yet  they  always  begin  in  a 
"  soft  mood,  and  end  in  the  same,  that  all  may  be  per- 
"  fected  in  the  sweetness  of  delicious  sounds.  They  enter 
*'  on,  and  again  leave  their  modulations  with  so  much 
"  subtlety ;  and  the  tinklings  of  the  small  strings  sport 
"  with  so  much  freedom  under  the  deep  notes  of  the  bass, 
"  delight  with  so  much  delicacy,  and  sooth  so  softly,  that 
"  the  excellence  of  their  art  seems  to  lie  in  concealing  it. 
"  Concealed,  it  pleases;  but  detected,  shames." 
This  description  so  perfectly  answers  to  the  airs  now 
published,  that  it  strengthens  the  conclusion,  that  they 
have  not  suffered  in  the  descent,  but  have  come  down  to 
us  in  the  very  forms  in  which  we  wish  now  to  transmit 
them  to  those  who  shall  succeed  usf. 


In  Cambrensis  we  find  also  the  following  passage :  "  It 
"  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Scotland  and  Wales ; 
M  the  latter,  in  order  to  disseminate  the  art ;  the  former, 
u  in  consequence  of  intercourse  and  affinity;  strive  with 
"  rival  skill  to  emulate  Ireland  in  music.  Ireland,  indeed, 
"  employs  and  delights  in  only  two  instruments,  the  Harp 
"  and  the  Tabor  I;  Scotland  in  three,  the  Harp,  Tabor, 
"  and  Chorus  §;  and  Wales,  in  the  Harp,  the  Pipes,  and 
"  the  Chorus.  The  Irish  prefer  strings  of  brass  wire  to 
"  those  made  of  thongs||." 

It  is  a  corroboration  of  the  accuracy  of  Cambrensis, 
that  upwards  of  two  centuries  before  he  wrote  (about 
A.  D.  942)  the  same  instruments  had  been  given  to  the 
Welsh,  as  appears  by  the  institutions  of  king  Howel  Dha 
(Howel  the  Good).  "  Every  chief  bard  to  whom  the  prince 
"  shall  grant  an  office,  the  prince  shall  provide  him  an  in* 
"  strument;  a  Harp  to  one,  a  Crwth  to  another,  and  Pipes 
"  to,a  third  ;  and  when  they  die,  the  instrument  ought  to 
"  revert  to  the  prince ^[."  We  have  in  this  a  certainty  of 
the  Pipes  being  a  very  old  instrument  in  Wales,  and  al- 
most a  certainty  that  neither  the  Irish  or  Scottish  High- 
landers had  them  in  1187,  when  Cambrensis  wrote.  Mor- 
fydd's  Pipes  in  Wales,  we  are  told,  were  spoken  of  even 
in  the  seventh  century. — Cambrensis  continues  :  "  In 
"  the  opinion  of  many  at  this  day,  Scotland  has  not  only 
"  equalled,  but  even  far  excels  her  mistress,  Ireland,  in 
"  musical  skill ;  wherefore  they  seekihere  also  the  foun- 
"  tain,  as  it  were,  of  the  art##. 

"  In  Ireland,  bishops,  abbots,  and  holy  men  are  ac- 


*  In  musicis  solum  (a)  instrumentis  commendahilem  invenio  genth  istius  diligentiam,  in  quihus  prce  omni  natione,  quam  Vidimus,  incom- 
paraliiilcr  instructa  est.  Non  enim  in  his,  sicut  in  Britannicis,  quibus  assueti  sumus,  instrumentis  tarda  et  morosa  est  modulatio,  verum  velox 
et  proeceps,  suavis  tamen  et  jucunda  Sonoritas.  Mirum  quod  in  tanta  tarn  Pra'cipiti  digitorum  rapacitate,  musica  servatur  proporlio,  et  arte  per 
omnia  indemni,  inter  crispatos  modulos,  organaque  multipliciter  intricata,  tarn  suavi  velocitate,  tarn  dispari  paritate;  tarn  discordi  concordia,  consona 
redditur  et  complelur  melodia.  Seu  diatesserone,  seu  diapente  chorda  concrepent,  semper  tamen  al  [B]  molli  incipiunt  et  in  idem  redeunt,  ut  cuncta 
sub  jucundce  sonoritatis  dulcedine  compleantur.  Tarn  subtiliter  modulos  intrant  et  exeunt ;  sicque  sub  obtuso  grossioris  chorda  sonitu,  gracilium 
tinnitus  licentius  ludunt,  latentius,  delectant,  laciviusque  demulcent  ut  pars  artis  maxima  videatur  artem  velare  ;  tarn  quam 

"  Si  lateat,  prosit ;  feral  ars  deprensa  pudorem."  [Cambrensis  Topog.  Hib.  distinct  III.  c  2. 

t  Gibson,  bishop  of  London,  translator  of  Camden's  Britannia,  relates  the  following  anecdote  of  a  harper  :— "  Near  Ballyshannon  were,  not 
"  many  years  ago,  dug  up  two  pieces  of  gold,  discovered  by  a  method  very  remarkable.  The  bishop  of  Derry  happening  to  be  at  dinner,  there  came 
"  an  Irish  harper  and  sung  an  old  song  to  the  Harp.  His  lordship  not  understanding  Irish  was  at  a  loss  to  know  the  meaning  of  the  song,  but, 
**  upon  enquiry,  he  found  the  substance  of  it  to  be  this:  that  in  such  a  place  (naming  the  very  spot)  a  man  of  a  gigantic  stature  lay  buried,  and  that 
"  over  his  breast  and  back  were  plates  of  pure  gold,  and  on  his  fingers  rings  of  gold,  so  large  that  an  ordinary  man  could  creep  through  them ;  the 
"  place  was  so  exactly  described,  that  two  persons  there  present  were  tempted  to  go  in  quest  of  the  golden  prize  which  the  harper's  song  had  pointed 
"  out  to  them.  After  they  had  dug  for  some  time  they  found  two  thin  pieces  of  gold.  [The  form  and  size  of  these  are  represented  in  Sir  J.  Ware's 
"  Antiquities  of  Ireland.]  This  discovery  encouraged  them  next  morning  to  search  for  the  remainder,  but  they  could  meet  with  nothing  more. 
"  Two  holes  in  the  middle  of  the  piece  seem  to  have  been  made  for  the  more  convenient  tying  it  to  the  arm  or  some  part  of  the  body." 

[Camd.  Brit.  Ed.  1722,  p.  1411.] 

This  incident  reminds  us  of  the  tradition,  that  in  the  reign  of  Brien  Boirormhe,  a  young  lady  of  great  beauty,  adorned  with  jewels  and  in  costly 
dress,  undertook  a  journey  from  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other,  from  the  north  of  Ireland  to  Tome  Cliadhna  in  the  south,  with  a  wand  only 
in  her  hand,  at  the  top  of  which  was  a  ring  of  exceeding  great  value.  Such  an  impression  had  the  laws  and  government  of  that  monarch  made  on 
the  minds  of  the  people,  that  no  attempt  was  made  upon  her  honour,  nor  was  she  robbed  of  her  clothes  or  jewels.  [Warner's  Hist,  of  Ireland. 

\  In  Trevisa's  translation  of  Higden's  Polychronicon  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  describing  ancient  Irish  manners,  we  find  this  observation  : 
"  Scotland,  the  daughter  of  Ireland,  use  Harp,  Tymbre  (Timbrel),  and  Tabor.  Netheless,  Irishmen  be  cunning  in  two  manner  instruments  of 
"  music,  in  Harp  and  Tymbre,  that  is  armed  with  wire  and  strings  of  brass,  in  which  instruments,  tho  they  play  hastily  and  swiftly,  they  make  right 
"  merry  harmony  and  melody  with  theyke  (those)  tunes,  and  warbles,  and  notes,  and  begin  with  be  molle,  and  play  secretly  under  dim  sound  under 
"  the  great  strings,  and  turn  again  unto  the  same,  so  that  the  greater  part  of  the  craft  hideth  the  craft,  as  it  woud  seem  as  though  the  craft  so  hid, 
"  should  be  ashamed,  if  it  were  take." 

§  It  has  been  alleged  the  choro  was  the  drones  of  a  bagpipe,  also,  that  it  was  a  kind  of  double  trumpet. 

||  See  figure  of  the  Harp,  Plates  I.  II.  and  III.    Tabor  IV.  No.  7.    Crwth  IV.  No.  6.  H  Leges  Wallicae. 

•*  Notandum  vero,  quod  Scotia  &  Gwallia  hose  propagationis  ilia  commealionis  &  affinitatis  gratia  Hiberniam  in  modulis  amula  imitari  nituntur 
(a)  This  expression  shews,  at  least,  that  the  author  did  not  write  under  a  partial  bias  towards  Ireland. 


"  customed  to  carry  about  their  Harps,  aud  to  take  a 
"  pious  delight  in  playing  on  them." 

This  early  notice  of  the  proficiency  of  Scotland  in  the 
musical  art  is  worth  attention.  It  may  be  pronounced 
•without  hesitation,  that  the  reference  is  to  the  Highlands. 
Ireland,  in  this  passage,  is  declared  to  be  the  parent 
country  of  music  to  Scotland,  a  fountain  of  the  art ;  in 
which  light  the  scholar  was  then  herself  beginning  to  be 
held,  as  well  as  her  mistress.  Now  the  beautiful  and 
still  existing  Lowland  airs  of  Scotland  could  never  have 
entered  into  Cambrensis'  contemplation ;  for  these  want 
the  bewildered  strain,  the  rapid  movements  and  unex- 
pected cadences,  the  animi  impetus  of  minstrels,  who 
considered  themselves  almost  prophetic  and  inspired. 

The  southern  melodies  breathe  the  mild  softness  of 
pastoral  innocence,  unmoved  by  boisterous  affections. 
Every  note  in  them  speaks  the  language  of  comparatively 
modern  habits  and  manner  ;  every  air  can  at  first  hearing 
be  comprehended  in  foreign  countries,  and  liarmonized 
without  violence  by  the  rules  of  modern  refinement.  Not 
the  most  remote  similarity  or  analogy  can  be  traced  be- 
tween the  ancient  melodies  of  these  two  districts :  they 
could  never  have  flowed  from  the  same  fountain.  We 
therefore  conclude  that  the  praise  of  Cambrensis  applied 
to  the  Erse  Aborigines;  the  connection  between  them 
and  the  Irish  is  well  known  :  their  early  intercourse,  the 
community  of  their  poetry,  the  identity  of  their  lan- 
guages, and  the  many  proofs  that  they  were  both  deri- 
vatives from  one  stock.  In  confining  the  praise  of  our 
Welsh  author  within  its  proper  channel,  we  by  no  means 
depreciate  those  admirable  compositions  of  the  Lowlands 
of  Scotland,  which  excite  the  purest  feelings  of  the  heart, 
and  do  honour  to  the  country  that  produced  them :  we 
only  endeavour  to  develope  the  truth  of  history,  and  to 
ascertain  the  historian's  meaning.  In  what  page  of  their 
annalist,  Buchanan,  or  of  Boethius,  still  older,  or  For  dun, 
the  father  of  their  historians,  do  we  discover  allusions  to 
the  high-  musical  excellence  of  the  Lowlands  in  early 
ages  ?  or  what  quarter  shall  we  explore  to  find  national 
instruments  of  high  perfection  attributed  to  them  ?  Even 
the  Harp  was  not  among  them.  On  the  other  hand,  few 
are  the  old  British  authors  that  do  not  present  us  with 
euloo-iums  on  Ireland  for  both,  above  other  nations. 

Cambrensis,  speaking  of  the  effects  of  music,  has,  in 
the  following  passage,  recorded  the  extreme  love  of  the 
Irish  for  their  national  instrument.    "  The  sweetness  of 


"  music  not  only  delights  with  its  harmony,  it  has  its  ad- 
"  vantages  also.  It  not  a  little  exhilarates  dejected  minds, 
"  it  clears  the  clouded  countenance,  and  removes  super- 
"  ciliousness  and  austerity.  Harmony  is  a  kind  of  food 
"  to  the  mind.  Whatever  be  our  pursuit,  music  assets 
"application  and  quickens  genius;  it  gives  courage  to 
"  the  brave,  and  assists  the  devotion  of  the  pious.  Hence 
"  it  is  that  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  holy  men  in  Ireland 
'*  are  used  to  have  the  Harp  about  them,  and  piously 
"  amuse  themselves  with  playing  it ;  for  which  reason 
"  the  Harp  of  holy  Kejeinus*  is  held  in  such  great  e.ti- 
"  mation  by  the  original  inhabitants.  Beside,  the  warlike 
"  trumpet  sends  forth  a  musical  consonance  when  its 
"  clangour  gives  the  signal  for  attack.  Music  has  a 
"  power  to  alter  our  very  nature.  Hence,  the  Iruh,  the 
"  Spanish,  and  some  other  nations,  amidst  their  funeral 
"  wailings,  bring  forth  musical  lamentations,  either  to 
"  increase  or  diminish  their  grief." 

A  century  preceding  Cambrensis,  the  Welsh  bards, 
celebrated  for  their  musical  art,  sought  for  and  received 
instructions  from  those  of  Ireland.  To  this  a  passage  in 
Powell  f,  the  Welsh  historian,  and  still  more  autho- 
ritative proofs  bear  testimony  :  "  There  are  three  sorts  of 
"  minstrels  in  Wales  ;  the  first  sort  named  Beirdh,  which 
"  are  makers  of  songs  and  odes  of  sundrie  measures, 
"  wherein  not  onlie  great  skill  and  cunning  is  required, 
"  but  also  a  certeine  natural  inclination  and  gift,  which, 
"  in  Latin,  is  termed  furor  poeticus.  These  do  also  keepe 
"  records  of  gentlemen*'  armes  and  pettegrees,  and  are 
"  best  esteemed  and  accounted  of  among  them.  The 
"  second  sort  of  these  are  plaiers  upon  instruments, 
"  chiefelye  the  Harp  and  the  Crowth,  whose  musike,  for 
"  the  most  part,  came  to  Wales  with  the  said  Griffith  up 
"  Conan,  who  being  on  the  one  side  an  Irishman  by  his 
"  mother  and  grandmother,  and  also  borne  in  Ireland, 
"  brought  over  with  him  out  of  that  countrie  dhcrs 
"  cunning  musicians  into  Wales,  who  derived  in  a  manner 
"  all  the  instrumental  musike  that  now  is  there  used,  as 
"  appeareth  as  well  by  the  books  written  of  the  same,  as 
"  also  by  the  names  of  the  tunes  and  measures  used 
"  amongst  them  to  this  daiej.  The  third  sort,  called 
"  Arcaneaid,  are  those  which  do  sing  to  the  in>trumcnt 
"  plaied  by  another,  and  these  be  in  use  in  the  countrie 
"  to  this  daie." 

Caradoc  of  Llancarvan,  another  Welsh  authority  also 
of  the  twelfth  century,  assures  us  (according  to  Wynne) 


discipline.  Hilernia  quidem,  tantum  duolus  utitur  &  dclectatur  instrumentis,  Cythara  Scil :  &  tympano,  Scotia,  trihus,  Cythara, Tympa so 
fef  choro,  Gwallia  vero  Cythara,  tiliis  &  choro  JEneis  quoque  magis  utuntur  chordis  Hiberni  quam  de  Corio  factis  multurum  auiem  opmu>me  hodU 
Scotia  non  tantum  magistram  cequiparavit  Hiberniam,  verum  etiam  in  musica  peritia  longe  prcevalet  &  prcecellit.  I  tide  S"  Ml  quasi  Jonlrm  artu, 
jam  requirunt.    Episcopi,  (sf  albates,  &  Sancti  in  Hilernia  viri  Cytharas  circumferre,  et  in  eis  modulando  pie  delectari  consmevmnt. 

*  Meaning,  probably,  St.  Keiven,  or  Coemgen,  of  the  sixth  century,  founder  of  the  monastery  of  Glandallouch  in  the  county  ot  W  icklow. 

f  David  Powell's  History  of  Cambria,  translated  by  Lloyd,  edit.  1584.  The  statute  of  Gruffyd  ap  Conan  is  still  extant  in  a  parchment  roll  in 
the  Ashmolean  library,  Oxford.  He  succeeded  to  the  principality  of  North  Wales  in  1079,  and  ^  1 ,37  »l  Aberffraw.  the  ro\  jI  scat  of  the 
princes  of  North  Wales.  His  Institutes  of  Music  are  minute  and  curious  :  the  reader  may  find  a  sketch  of  them  in  "  Jones's  Relique*  ot  the  \\  cUh 
Bards,"  a  book  worthy  of  high  commendation. 

Powell's  assertion  requires  no  confirmation ;  if  it  did,  it  is  amply  supported  in  the  passages  which  follow  in  the  text.  The  learned  lde  s  m 
more  modern  times,  says,  that  the  music  of  the  Welsh,  "  for  the  most  part,  came  out  of  Ireland  with  Gruffy,lu-  ap  Conan,  prince  of  Norm  W  .!*,. 
"  about  king  Stephen's  time."  [  APud»  Nolcs  oa  ^Hons  Polyoma  J 

%  The  measures  themselves  arc  given  in  this  treatise,  and  their  translation. 

c 


6 


that  the  Irish  devised  all  the  instruments,  tunes,  and  mea- 
sures in  use  among  the  Welsh*. 

A  book  of  institutes,  settled  in  the  reign  of  Gruffyd 
ab  Conan,  about  A.  D.  1100,  is  thus  prefaced:  "  This  is 
w  the  book  of  institutes  of  instrumental  music,  namely  the 
•*  Harp  and  Cruth,  within  the  three  principalities  of 
"  Wales,  which  were  drawn  up  by  the  desire  of  four 
"  chief  musicians  of  the  Harp  and  Cruth  ;  the  mind  and 
M  talent  of  each  and  every  of  them  being  to  compose 
"  music,  to  keep  it  in  memory,  to  play  it  correctly,  and 
"  to  analize  it.  The  four  chief  musicians  were  Allon 
"  (Albon  ab  Cynan)  Rhydderch  Voel,  Matholuch  Wyddel 
*  (Matholuch  the  Gueddelian,  or  Irishman)  and  Olar 
"  Gerddawr  (Alof  the  musician).  And  those  who  at- 
"  tended  as  auditors  were,  Henry  Geowrhud  (Henri 
"  Gyvenrhydd,  or  Hensi  GrufTydd)  and  Carsi  Delynior 
"  (Carsi  the  Harper),  with  many  others,  assisting  by  their 
"  counsel  and  science.  And  by  the  advice  of  those  mas- 
"  ters,  and  the  skill  of  the  doctors  of  music,  and  the  four 
<c  masters,  and  through  the  united  counsel  of  each  and 
"  every  of  them,  were  formed  the  twenty-four  measures; 
"  and  to  preserve  those  were  formed  the  twenty-four 
"  deivrs.  They  were  made  for  three  reasons:  1.  To 
"  make  music ;  2.  to  know  music  ;  and  3.  to  retain 
"  music  in  memory.  Their  names  follow ;  one  in  the 
"  Irish  language :  and  Murchan  Wyddel  (Murchan  the 
<(  Irishman)  was  lord  in  Ireland  at  that  time,  who  con- 
"  firmed  them  at  the  place  called  Glyn  Achlach  f,  by  all 
"  his  power  and  officers,  with  command  to  all  persons  to 
"  countenance  them." 

J  The  same  chronicles  do  not  notice  Bledyd  ab 
Cynvyn's  having  revised  the  regulations  of  the  musicians; 
but  various  old  papers,  treating  on  Welsh  music,  men- 
tion such  a  revisal :  Bledyd  ab  Cynvyn  had  been  an  exile 
in  Ireland  before  he  came  to  the  throne  of  Powys,  about 
A.  D.  1050,  and  was  slain  in  1070.  These  chronicles  do  not 
mention  the  revisal  of  laws  of  the  musicians  by  Grufyd  ab 
Cynan;  but  the  same  old  papers  and  treatises  on  music 


contain  copies  of  his  regulations :  and  they  all  say,  that 

such  regulations  were  made  in  Ireland,  where  he  was 
brought  up,  his  father  having  been  an  exile  there  from 
A.  D.  1040  §.  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan  made  two  attempts  from 
Ireland  to  regain  his  patrimony  of  Gwyned,  or  North 
Wales;  one  m  1070,  and  another  1080;  the  last  suc- 
ceeded. Codogan  ab  Bledyn  ab  Cynvyn,  prince  of  Powys, 
was  also  an  exile  in  Ireland  || ;  Hugh,  earl  of  Chester,  and 
Owen  ab  Edwyn,  having  taken  possession  of  their  lands, 
and  of  the  isle  of  Anglesey. 

An  old  manuscript  in  the  library  of  the  Welsh  school 
near  London,  (Morris's  collection  before  alluded  to)  con- 
tains pieces  for  the  Harp  set  in  harmony,  or  counterpoint, 
written  in  a  peculiar  notation  ;  the  title  of  this  book  is 
Musica  neu  Beroiaeth.  It  contains  this  notice:  "  The 
"  following  manuscript  is  the  music  of  the  Britons,  as 
"  settled  by  a  congress  or  meeting  of  the  masters  of  music, 
"  by  order  of  Griffyd  ap  Cynan,  prince  of  Wales,  about 
"  A.  D.  1100,  with  some  of  the  most  ancient  pieces  of 
"  the  Britons,  supposed  to  have  been  handed  to  us  from 
"  the  British  druids,  in  two  parts  (that  is,  bass  and  treble), 
"  for  the  Harp.  This  MS.  was  wrote  by  Robert  ap  Haw, 
"  of  Bodwigan  in  Anglesey,  in  Charles  the  First's  time, 
"  some  part  of  it  copied  then  out  of  William  Penlyn's 
"  book 

Having  had  the  perusal  of  this  manuscript,  a  late 
traveller  says,  that  he  found  the  music  expressed  by 
letters  of  the  alphabet  with  other  marks,  not  at  this  day 
to  be  explained.  Double  ff  appeared  to  be  the  lowest 
note,  after  which  the  first  series  seemed  to  him  to  be 
gi,  ai,  bi,  ci,  di,  ei,  fi,  and  the  next,  f,  g,  a,  b,  c,  d,  e, 
written  in  characters  of  which  he  has  given  fac  similes. 
It  is  impossible,  says  he,  to  say  that  these  letters  stand  for 
the  same  sounds  as  the  like  letters  in  modern  music,  but 
whether  they  do  or  not,  he  does  not  conceive  it  material ; 
that  if  they  do,  some  of  the  chords  are  those  admitted 
into  our  harmony,  but  that  others  occur  that  are  mers 
jargon  **. 


*  Wynne's  History  of  Wales.  Dr.  Powell,  in  his  Notes  on  Caradoc,  says,  that  either  the  Welsh  music  went  to  Wales  with  prince  Gruffudd's 
Irish  musicians,  or  was  composed  by  them  afterwards ;  but  Wynne  mistaking,  it  is  alleged,  Caradoc's  meaning  in  not  distinguishing  music  from 
musical  instruments,  asserted  that  both  the  Harp  and  Crowth  came  from  Ireland. 

+  Glyn  Achlach  means  Glendalloch  in  the  county  of  Wicklow,  Ireland,  an  ancient  episcopal  see  founded  by  St.  Coemgen,  or  Kieven,  who 
was  born  A.  D.  4g8,  and  died  618 ;  it  was  an  inhabited  city  till  1214,  when  the  see  was  annexed  to  Dublin. 

X  From  the  Welsh  Archaiology,  vol.  iii.  p.  625. 

§  The  mother  of  Grufydd  ab  Cynan  was  Racuel  (Raunilt  Raonel),  daughter  of  Auloedd  (Aulaf)  king  of  the  city  of  Dulyn  (Dublin)  and  the 
fifth  part  of  Ireland,  the  isle  of  Manan  (Man),  that  originally  formed  a  part  of  the  commonweal  of  Britain;  and  he  was  king  of  many  other  isles, 
and  of  Denmark,  Galway,  Rhennen,  Mon  (Anglesey),  and  Gwynedd ;  in  which  place,  Auloedd  built  a  castle  of  great  strength,  the  mound  and 
fosse  of  which  are  still  visible,  and  are  called  the  castle  of  king  Auloedd,  but  in  Welsh,  the  castle  of  Eon  y  Dom.  Auloedd  himself  was  the  son  of 
king  Sutrie,  the  son  of  Auloed,  king  of  Cyrian,  the  son  of  Sutrie,  son  of  king  Auloed,  son  of  king  Horfagr,  son  of  the  king  of  Denmark. 

[Welsh  Archaiology,  vol.  ii.  p.  584,  Life  of  Gr.  ab  Cynan.] 

||  For  this  paragraph,  as  well  as  some  succeeding  ones,  we  are  indebted  to  William  Owen  Pughe,  Esq.  of  Denbigh,  whose  obliging  and  valuable 
assistance  was  procured  through  the  liberal  intervention  of  Thomas  Johnes,  Esq.  M.  P.  of  Cardiganshire,  a  gentleman  whose  character  is  above 
our  eulogy. 

«JT  William  Penlyn  is  recorded  among  the  successful  candidates  on  the  Harp,  at  an  Eistedduod,  at  Cacrwys  in  Wales,  1568,  when  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  chief  Bards  and  teachers  of  instrumental  son". 

O 

General  Vallancev,  to  whose  indefatigable  labour  and  ingenuity  Ireland  has  long  been  indebted,  thinks  that  the  Irish  word  Teadhloin, 
or  Telin,  is  the  etymon  of  the  Welsh  Teylin,  or  Harp,  not  finding  any  derivation  for  it  in  the  Welsh  language;  a  circumstance,  which,  he  conceives, 
proves  from  whence  they  derived  the  instrument  itself.  A  Welsh  writer,  however,  informs  us,  that  the  Welsh  root  of  Teylin  is  Tel— i.  e.  straight 
or  drawn  tight;  and  that  the  word  Telin  is  mentioned  by  Taliesin,  their  bard  in  the  sixth  century,  and  in  king  Howel's  laws,  A.  D.  914. 

*•  Vide  one  of  these  airs  given  by  him  in  modern  notation,  Plate  III.  No.  14,  from  which  an  opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  rest. 


7 


John  of  Salisbury*,  in  the  twelfth  century,  an  older 
writer  than  Cambrensis,  says,  that  descant  or  double 
singing  was  practised  to  great  extent  in  that  agef- 
And  Bede,  so  early  as  the  eighth  century,  mentions 
descant  or  music  in  consonance %. 

In  perfect  consistency  with  this,  and  with  the  Welsh 
manuscript  mentioned,  we  are  informed  by  Cambrensis, 
that  "  The  Britons  did  not  sing  in  unison  like  the  in- 
**  habitants  of  other  countries,  but  in  different  parts;  it 
"  being  customary  (he  says)  in  Wales,  when  a  company 
*  of  singers  among  the  common  people  met,  to  hear  as 
"  many  different  parts  as  there  were  performers,  who,  at 
"length,  united  with  organic  sweetness:  but  since  the 
"  English  adopt  this  kind  of  vocal  melody  (he  continues) 
"  not  generally,  but  only  in  the  northern  parts,  I  sup- 
u  pose  they  borrowed  their  mode  of  singing,  as  they  did 
,  "  the  affinity  of  their  language,  from  the  Danes  and  Nor- 
"  wegians,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  occupying  those  parts 
"  of  the  island  more  frequently,  and  retaining  the  posses- 
"  sion  of  them  longer  than  any  other  people." 

He  adds,  "  that  in  the  northern  parts  of  Britain, 
**  beyond  the  Humber,  bordering  on  Yorkshire,  the  in- 
"  habitants  used  the  same  kind  of  symphonious  harmony 
"  that  he  saw  the  Welsh  do,  excepting  that  they  only 
"  sung  in  two  parts;  the  one  murmuring  in  the  bass,  the 
"  other  warbling  in  the  treble." 

We  are  further  led  to  admit  the  knowledge  of  coun- 
terpoint in  Wales  by  the  twenty-four  ancient  games 
of  the  Welsh;  bince,  of  these,  "  Cann  cydd  pedlar 
"  ac  acceim"  (i.  e.  singing  a  song  in  four  parts  with  ac- 
centuation) is  among  the  number  §,  and  also  by  the 
compass  and  peculiar  form  of  the  Harp,  which  shew  that 
it  was  to  be  played  upon  with  both  hands,  and  leave  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  it  was  intended  for  harmony  as  well 
as  melody.    Of  the  former,  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were 


necessarily  deprived  by  the  shape  and  limited  powers  of 
their  lyre. 

If,  then,  Wales  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
was  in  possession  of  counterpoint  and  musical  notation, 
it  is  not  to  be  questioned  that  the  Irish,  whose  superior 
knowledge  they  admitted,  by  submitting  to  be  tmgki 
by  them,  and  to  have  a  body  of  musical  institutes  pre- 
pared by  their  direction,  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of 
cither. 

Whether  Ireland  and  Wales,  or  either  of  them,  u  tre 
in  possession  of  the  knowledge  of  counterpoint  prior  to 
the  time  of  Guido  Aretinus||,  the  reviver,  if  not  the  in- 
ventor of  it  among  the  Italians  (about  A.  D.  1022),  the 
reader  must  determine  for  himself.  Considering  the  per- 
turbed state  of  the  Irish,  from  the  Danish  invasion  in  the 
ninth  century,  to  the  British  invasion  in  the  twelfth, 
we  cannot  imagine  that  it  could,  in  that  interval,  have 
been  introduced  among  them  from  the  continent,  and 
have  been  so  widely  disseminated.  The  improbability  of 
this  will  appear  more  strongly  when  we  consider  that  the 
great  cultivators  of  harmony  from  Guido's  time,  to  that  of 
Palestrina,  who  carried  it  to  perfection  in  the  pontificate 
of  Leo  X.  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  devoted 
their  talents  almost  exclusively  to  sacred  music;  whereas 
Cambrensis  and  all  the  other  authot-ities  speak  of  the 
attainments  of  the  Irish  in  secular  compositions.  Holy 
men,  it  is  true,  were  in  the  habit  of  carrying  Harps 
about  with  them;  but  that  does  not  invalidate  the  re- 
mark. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  oldest  Irish  tunes  are  the  most 
perfect,  and  history  accords  with  this  opinion.  Vin. 
Galilei,  Bacon^[,  Stanishurst**,  Spenser,  and  Camdcnft, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  speak  warmly  of  Irish  mu-ic, 
but  not  so  highly  as  Polydore  Virgil \%  ',  and  Major,  in  the 
fifteenth;  Clynn§§,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth,  cr 


*  John  of  Salisbury,  bishop  of  Chartres,  was  born  at  Salisbury  about  A.D.  1110:  he  was  the  friend  and  secretary  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket, 
and  intercepted  one  of  the  blows  of  his  assassins. 

t  Dr.  Burney's  History  of  Music.  J  Hawkins  H.  Music,  vol.  i.  p.  406. 

§  Davis's  Welsh  and  Latin,  and  Latin  and  Welsh  Dictionary,  London,  1632. 

The  Monthly  Reviewer  of  1786,  vol.  74,  O  S,  alleges,  however,  that  the  Welsh  passage  may  as  well  apply  to  singing  an  ode  or  song  of  four 
strophes,  stanzas,  or  strains,  as  to  parts  in  counterpoint. 

||  Guido  Aretine  contrived  the  staff  of  five  lines,  on  which,  with  its  spaces,  he  marked  his  notes  by  setting  points  ©  up  and  down  before 
them  to  denote  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  voice.  But  from  Kircher  we  learn,  that  he  found  in  the  Jesuits  library  at  Messina  a  Greek  manuscript  of 
hymns,  now  nearly  800  years  old,  in  which  some  were  written  on  a  staff  of  eight  lines,  marked  at  the  beginning  with  eight  Greek  letters, 
notes  or  points  were  set  upon  the  lines,  but  no  use  made  of  the  spaces:  Galilei  confirms  us  in  this.  Guido  contrived  the  six  musical  syllables 
ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  which  he  took  out  of  a  Latin  hymn.  He  was  also  the  inventor  of  symphonetic  composition,  and  brought  it  even  the  length  of 
four  parts,  bass,  tenor,  counter,  and  treble;  he  carried  his  system,  however,  no  farther  than  twenty  diatonic  notes;  these  were  increased  to  thirty-four 
in  the  harpsichord,  and  latterly  to  forty  ;  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  spinnets  and  harpsichords.       [Malcolm's  Treaiise  of  Mus.  172;?.] 

Guido  was  a  native  of  Arezzo,  and  invented  the  new  musical  scale  about  A.D.  1022;  he  had  been  thrice  called  to  Rome  to  teach  the  ute  of  it 
to  the  clergy.  In  a  letter  to  the  pope  he  insisted,  that  with  its  assistance  a  person  might  in  one  year  make  as  great  proficiency  in  music  as  formerly 
in  ten. 

%  Lord  Bacon,  in  his  Sylva  Sylvarum,  remarks,  that  "  the  Harp  hath  the  concave,  not  along  the  strings,  but  across  the  strings ;  and  no 
Harp  hath  the  sounds  so  melting  and  prolonged  as  the  Irish  Harp." 

**  Stanishurst,  chaplain  to  Albert,  archduke  of  Austria,  died  lGl8. 

ft  John  Good,  a  priest  educated  at  Oxford,  and  master  of  a  school  at  Limerick  in  1566.  At  the  request  of  Camden  he  wrote  "  A  Description 
"  of  the  wild  Irish,"  in  which  is  this  remark  ;  "  They  love  music  mightily,  and,  of  all  instruments,  are  particularly  taken  with  the  Harp,  which 
"  being  strung  with  brass  wire,  and  beaten  (struck)  with  crooked  nails,  is  very  melodious."  [This  answers  to  the  present  mode  of  playing  on  it  by 
the  oldest  Harpers.] 

XX  Polidore  Virgil, born  at  Urbino  in  Italy,  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  uses  this  expression,  "  Hiberni  musica  prritissimL" 
He  had  been  sent  to  England  by  the  pope  to  collect  Peter's  pence,  and  undertook  to  write  a  history  of  that  I  ■  !  m. 
§§  John  Clynn,  a  minorite  of  Kilkenny,  wrote  short  annul*  of  Ireland  to  1349,  when  it  is  supposed  he  di*l. 


o 


• 


Fordun,  in  the  thirteenth*.  As  we  recede  yet  farther, 
•we  find  Cambrensis,  Brompton,  and  John  of  Salisbury,  in 
the  twelfth  century,  bestowing  still  more  lofty  encomiums; 
and  these  again  falling  short  of  the  accounts  which  the 
Welsh  historians  give  of  the  state  of  the  science  among  us 
in  the  eleventh  and  tenth  centuries.  In  conformity  with 
this,  Fuller,  in  his  account  of  the  crusade  conducted  by 
Godfrey  of  Bologne,  says,  "  Yea,  we  might  well  think  that 
"  all  the  concert  of  Christendom  in  this  war,  would 
"  have  made  no  music  if  the  Irish  Harp  had  been 
"  wanting  f." 

John  Major,  a  Scotch  divine  and  historian,  born  about 
1446,  and  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  says,  in  his  De  Gestis 
Scotorum,  "  It  is  by  many  arguments  certain  that  we,  the 
u  Scots,  owe  our  origin  to  the  Irish.  This  we  may  learn 
"  from  the  language;  for  even  at  this  day,  one-half  of 
"  Scotland  speak  Irish;  and  a  few  years  ago,  a  greater 
**  proportion  spoke  the  same  language.  The  Scotch 
"  brought  their  speech  from  Ireland  into  Britain,  as  our 
"  annals  testify.  I  say,  therefore,  that  from  whomsoever 
"  the  Irish  drew  their  origin,  the  Scotch  derive  the 
tc  same ;  not  immediately,  indeed,  but  as  a  grandson  from 
"  a  grandsire." 

Of  the  same  opinion  are  more  of  their  own  authorities, 
as  Buchanan,  Innes,  &c.  When  James  VI.  came  to  the 
English  throne,  he  declared  in  the  council  chamber  at 
Whitehall,  that  the  Scotch  dynasty  came  from  the  Irish  ; 
"  that  the  ancient  kings  of  Scotland  came  from  Ireland.'''' 
The  conclusion  from  all  this  is  obvious,  that  if  Scotland 
(as  our  own  annalists  teach  us)  owed  her  people  and  her 
language  to  Ireland,  she  must  have  been  equally  indebted 
to  the  same  quarter  for  her  ancient  viusic  and  musical 
instruments. 

Satisfactory  as  this  chain  of  reasoning  and  these  au- 
thorities are  in  favour  of  the  claims  of  Irish  melody  to  a 
remote  origin,  it  might  still  appear  defective  if  unsup- 
ported by  correlative  evidence,  derivable  from  the  state 
of  poetry  and  other  branches  of  literature  in  Ireland  at  a 
period  yet  earlier  %. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  HARP. 

Light  may,  perhaps,  be  reflected  on  the  derivation  of 
the  Irish  and  Welsh  Harps  (in  their  original  state  the  same 
instrument)  by  examining  the  relation  they  bear  to  others 
resembling  them  in  construction,  though  the  invention  of 


other  countries  in  remotest  ages:  among  these,  the  Harp 
of  Egyptian  Thebes  first  claims  our  regard,  being  of 
the  highest  antiquity.  We  are  informed  by  Pocock  and 
Norden,  that  when  they  wrote,  ancient  drawings  were 
still  visible  in  the  sepulchral  grottos  near  Thebes  •,  and  if 
we  may  conjecture  from  the  age  of  the  prince  in  whose 
tomb  they  were  found,  they  were  executed  before  the 
time  of  Sesostris.  But  it  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Bruce,  of 
Kinnaird  in  Scotland,  in  his  travels  to  discover  the  sources 
of  the  Nile,  to  present  to  the  public  drawings  of  two 
Harps  §,  of  a  construction  totally  differing  from,  and 
superior  to,  the  Grecian  and  Roman  lyres,  though  so 
much  older  than  either.  One  of  these  he  communicated 
to  Dr.  Burney,  when  that  gentleman  was  preparing  his 
excellent  History  of  Music.  The  draft  of  the  second 
Harp  [No.  3,  in  Plate  III.]  had  been  mislaid ;  in  conse- 
quence of  which,  it  does  not  appear  in  Burney  ;  but  was 
afterwards  recovered,  and  is  seen  in  Bruce. 

As  the  subject  is  curious,  we  subjoin  an  extract  of  the 
traveller's  remarks,  and  shall  not  be  charged  with  pro- 
lixity in  attempting  to  establish  the  authenticity  of  draw- 
ings which  afford  the  earliest  trace  of  music  within  the 
sphere  of  human  annals. 

In  one  of  the  apartments  or  passages  into  the  sepul- 
chre near  Thebes,  Mr.  Bruce  found  pannels  or  copart- 
ments  formed  in  stucco,  and  painted  in  fresco ;  in  one  of 
which  were  depicted  several  musical  -instruments,  chiefly 
of  the  hautboy  kind,  with  mouth-pieces  of  reed,  also 
some  simple  pipes  or  flutes.  With  them  were  also  found 
several  jars,  as  of  potter's  ware,  which  having  their 
mouths  covered  with  parchment  or  skin,  and  being 
braced  on  their  sides  like  a  drum,  were  probably  the  tabor 
or  tabret  ||,  beat  upon  by  the  hands,  and  coupled  in  early 
times  with  the  Harp.  In  three  succeeding  pannels  were 
painted,  in  like  manner,  three  Harps  of  most  elegant 
form.  By  the  figure,  No.  1,  in  Plate  HI.  of  this  col- 
lection, it  appears  to  have  been  played  by  a  person  in  a 
standing  posture ;  its  number  of  strings  to  have  been 
thirteen,  and  its  extreme  length  less  than  six  feet  and  a 
half,  calculating  by  the  height  of  the  player,  and  sup- 
posing him  to  measure  five  feet  ten  inches.  It  wants  the 
pillar  or  fore  piece  of  the  frame  next  the  lowest  string. 
The  back  part  is  the  sounding  board,  composed  of  four 
pieces  of  wood,  growing  wider  toward  the  bottom.  The 
ornamented  parts  are  executed  in  the  very  best  manner, 
and  the  entire  form  is  in  the  finest  taste.  Beside  the  pro- 
portions of  its  outward  form,  we  must  observe  how  nearly 
it  approaches  (says  he)  to  a  perfect  instrument,  for  it 


*  John  de  Fordun,  a  canon  of  Aberdeen,  the  earliest  Scotch  historian,  author  of  very  copious  and  valuable  annals.  He  was  sent  to  Ireland 
(reign  of  Richard  II.)  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  to  collect  materials  for  his  Scotichronicon. 
t  Fuller's  Holy  War,  B.  5,  ch.  xxiii.  apud  Walker. 

X  The  time  at  which  the  Harp  became  the  armorial  ensign  of  Ireland  has  often  been  a  subject  of  investigation  :  according  to  Tindall's  history, 
all  the  ancient  pennies  that  have  the  head  in  a  triangle  were  Irish  coins,  which  triangle  is  supposed  to  represent  the  Irish  Harp  ;  others  think  that  the 
triangle  alludes  to  the  trinity.  King  John  and  his  two  immediate  successors  were  the  earliest  monarchs  who  used  the  triangle  constantly  on  their 
money.  From  this  triangle,  perhaps,  proceeded  the  arms  of  Ireland.  There  is  a  groat  of  Henry  VIII.  which  has  on  one  side  the  arms  of  England, 
on  the  reverse,  a  Harp  crowned,  and  Frank  Dominus  Hiber,  which  is  the  first  time  that  the  Harp  appears  distinctly  on  the  coins :  it  was  struck  about 
the  year  1530.  No  doubt,  it  was  the  high  state  of  improvement  of  the  Irish  Harp,  and  of  Irish  music,  admitted  by  neighbouring  countries,  and 
the  very  ancient  passion  of  the  people  for  music,  which  prompted  Henry  VIII.  to  adopt  the  Harp  as  their  arms. 

§  See  Plate  III.  in  this  collection.  q  Genesis  xxxi.  27-   Isaiah  xxx.  32. 


9 


Only  wants  two  strings  of  two  complete  octaves :  that 
these  were  purposely  omitted,  not  from  defect  of  taste  or 
science,  must  appear  beyond  contradiction,  when  we  con- 
sider the  second  figure  representing  the  Harp  that  occu- 
pies the  second  pannel.  Its  form  we  see  differs  from  the 
other,  and  its  number  of  strings  is  eighteen,  being  five 
more.    [See  Plate  III.  fig.  3,  of  this  collection.] 

In  a  third  pannel  appears  a  third  Harp  of  only  ten 
strings,  but  of  its  precise  form  Mr.  Bruce  had  not  taken 
a  drawing. 

He  looked  on  these  as  the  Theban  Harp  in  use  in  the 
age  of  Sesostris,  about  the  tenth  century  before  the 
Christian  sera:  he  considered  them  as  affording  incon- 
testable proof,  that  every  art  necessary  to  the  con- 
struction, ornament,  and  use  of  this  instrument  was  in  the 
highest  perfection. 

Old  Thebes  had  been  destroyed,  but  was  soon  after 
rebuilt.  It  was  adorned  by  Sesostris,  sometime,  he  thinks, 
between  the  reign  of  Menes  and  the  first  war  of  the  shep- 
herds, about  400  years  before  the  Trojan  war.  This  gives 
the  drawings  in  question  a  prodigious  antiquity. 

The  only  very  ancient  Harp  that  resembles  these 
Theban  ones  is  represented  in  basso-relievo  at  Ptolemais, 
a  city  built  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  It  has  fifteen 
strings  or  two  octaves ;  but  the  addition  of  the  two 
strings  occasioned  (it  is  conjectured)  the  addition  of  a 
fore  pillar.  Bruce,  from  whom  this  fact  is  taken,  con- 
ceives this  Harp  also  as  of  Theban  origin,  as  no  Harp 
with  so  many  strings  has,  he  says,  ever  been  seen  in 
Grecian  sculpture;  and  the  extremity  of  its  base  rounded 
into  a  ram's  head. 

Some  writers  (who  are  otherwise  sensible  and  candid) 
have  pronounced  those  figures  of  Harps  fietions  of  Bruce's 
fancy; — they  have  alleged  the  doubtfulness  of  painting 
being  so  earlv  known,  and  have  supposed  it  impossible 
that  such  drawings  could  remain  at  Thebes  to  the  pre- 
sent day  ; — they  have  noticed  the  want  of  a  pillar  to  sup- 
port the  comb  of  the  Harp,  which  could  not  easily  be  con- 
trived to  resist  the  tension  of  the  strings,  even  if  made  of 
.metal,  as  light  as  it  is  described*  :  and  they  have  alleged 
the  improbability  that  the  Greeks,  with  such  an  admirable 
model  before  their  eyes,  should  not  have  renounced  the 
lyre  and  adopted  it.  In  answer  to  this,  let  it  be  con- 
sidered, that  drawings  are  visible  in  the  Theban  sepul- 
chres. We  have  the  authority,  not  only  of  Bruce,  but  of 
three  other  travellers  at  different  periods,  Pocock  and 
Korden  in  1137,  1738,  and  Denon  in  1798  ;  two  of  these 
are  of  different  nations  from  our  own.  We  are  not  jus- 
tified in  denying  the  veracity  of  all  these  travellers,  unless 
internal  evidence  appear  of  their  being  privy  to  each 
other's  falsehood.  It  is  very  conceivable,  that  a  comb, 
especially  of  metal,  might  bear  the  tension  of  thirteen  or 
sixteen  strings  without  the  aid  of  an  outside  pillar ;  but 
even  if  it  were  not,  the  painter  might  have  omitted  that 
part  of  its  structure,  in  order  to  give  the  figure  a  greater 


degree  of  lightness  and  beauty  ;  whether  that  were  the 
case  or  not,  the  general  principles  of  the  instrument  are 
unimpeachable. 

That  the  Greeks  did  not  renounce  their  national  lyre, 
and  adopt  the  Harp  of  Egypt,  presents  no  difficulty. 
The  Lacedemonians,  in  particular,  who  conceived  that 
their  civil  polity,  and  still  more  their  morals,  depended  so 
much  on  preserving  their  music  in  its  original  simplicity, 
as  to  banish  a  musician  for  increasing  their  scale  four 
tones,  would  not  abandon  the  instrument  of  their  country 
for  any  other. 

Mr.  Norden,  the  Danish  traveller,  speaks  of  some  of 
the  paintings  found  near  Thebes,  in  these  words;  "  This 
"  sort  of  painting  has  neither  shade  nor  degradation;  the 
"  figures  are  incrustcd  like  the  enamel  on  the  dial  plates 
"  of  watches,  with  this  difference,  that  thev  cannot  be 
"  detached.  I  must  own,  that  this  incrusted  matter  sur- 
"  passes  in  strength  every  thing  I  have  seen  of  this  kind; 
"  it  is  superior  to  the  alfresco,  or  mosaic  work,  and  has 
<£  the  advantage  of  lasting  longer.  It  is  surprising  to  see 
"  how  the  gold,  ultra-marine,  and  other  colours  have 
"  preserved  their  lustre  to  the  present  age."  How  high 
must  the  state  of  the  arts  have  been  at  that  time,  when 
this  description  is  applicable  now  ? 

Modern  scepticism  should,  we  think,  vanish  from  the 
moment  the  French  took  possession  of  Egypt  in  the  year 
1798.  On  that  occasion,  Denon  copied  the  figures  of 
Harps  in  the  same  sepulchral  grottos,  and  thus,  in  a  great 
degree,  corroborated  the  narratives  of  his  predecessors. 
From  his  travels  in  Egypt  in  company  with  the  French 
army,  during  the  campaigns  of  Buonaparte,  we  find  that 
the  galleries  containing  the  drawings  are  "  cased  with 
"  stucco,  sculptured  and  painted  ;  and  that  the  cielings 
"  make  a  rich  and  harmonious  association  of  colours ;" 
"  except  two  of  the  eight  tombs"  that  he  visited,  "  which 
have  been  injured  by  water  trickling  down  them,  all  the 
rest  are  still  in  full  perfection,  and  the  paintings  as  fresh 
as  when  they  were  first  executed.  The  colouring  of  the 
cielings  exhibiting  yellow  figures  on  a  blue  ground,  are 
executed  with  a  taste  that  might  decorate  our  most 
splendid  saloons."  Of  four  figures  of  Harps,  one  of 
them,  we  are  told,  was  of  four  strings,  one  of  eleven,  two 
containing  a  multiplicity,  answer  to  one  of  Bruce's  figures; 
and  all  of  them  correspond  with  /lis  in  the  omission  of  an  ■ 
outside  pillar.  [See  four  instruments  deliueated  in  Plate  111. 
Nos.  4,  5,  6,  particularly  the  two  last.] 

That  which  most  resembles  the  Welsh  and  Irish  Harps 
in  the  double  curvature  of  the  arm  in  Bruce's  does  not 
appear  in  Denon.  This,  however,  may  have  proceeded 
from  one  of  the  travellers  bavin"-  visited  a  Qallerv  that 
had,  in  the  hurry  of  the  moment,  escaped  the  other. 

When  we  find  Bruce's  delineation  correct  in  one  case, 
we  ought  not  rashly  to  impeach  his  truth  in  the  other: 
that  he  took  drawings  of  the  instruments  on  the  spot,  is 
sufficiently  established  by  the  diagrams  of  Denon.  Few 


*  It  is  singular  that  Bruce  himself  started  this  objection,  saying,  that  if  the  Harp  was  painted  in  the  proportions  it  was  made,  it  could  scarcely 
bear  the  tension  of  more  than  thirteen  strings  with  which  it  was  furnished,  and  that  it  would  break  with  the  icnsion  of  the  four  longest  it"  they  were 
made  of  the  size  and  consistence,  and  tuned  to  the  pitch  that  ours  arc  at  present. 

V) 


10 


men  were  better  qualified  to  detect  any  incongruity  in 
the  form  of  a  musical  instrument  than  Dr.  Burney :  but 
that  gentleman,  instead  of  questioning  the  existence  of 
Bruce's  Harp,  passes  an  eulogium  on  its  beauty,  and  con- 
jectures the  scale  it  may  have  been  tuned  upon,  which  he 
thought  ran  from  C  to  c,  D  to  d,  or  E  to  e;  furnishing 
all  the  semitones  in  modern  music  within  the  compass  of 
an  octave. 

Since  this  memoir  commenced,  the  writer  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  with  Mr.  W.  G.  Brown,  author  of 
"  Travels  into  Africa,  Egypt,  and  Syria."  He  is  one  of 
the  few  Europeans  that  have,  on  the  spot,  seen  the  draw- 
ings in  question.  With  his  permission  we  say,  that  he 
found  Denon's  copies  of  those  drawings  correct,  although 
it  does  not  remain  on  his  memory  that  he  saw  the  figure 
of  a  Harp  with  the  double  curvature  of  the  arm,  which 
appears  to  be  one  of  those  given  in  Mr.  Bruce's  account ; 
that  the  Harps  arc  about  two  feet  high  ;  that  the  colours 
are  still  brilliant,  and  the  figures  distinct ;  that  the  walls 
are  artificially  whitened  ;  and  that  the  persons  playing  on 
the  instruments  answering  in  the  dresses  to  Mr.  Bruce's, 
particularly  in  their  having  striped  garments,  are  in  a 
brown  or  bronze  colour. 

When  we  consider  the  whole  evidence,  it  is  plain  that 
Bruce's  Harps  were  taken  from  other  drawings  than  those 
by  Denon.  The  performers  on  Bruce's  are  both  males  in 
a  standing  attitude ;  in  Denon's  one  of  them  is  a  naked 
female  kneeling:  her  instrument  contains  a  number  of 
strings,  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty,  but  the  true  number 
uncertain.  The  dresses  are  totally  different;  all  those  of 
Bruce's  are  striped,  which  is  corroborated  by  Mr.  Brown, 
who  further  says,  that  there  are  such  a  multiplicity  of 
drawings  as  would  require  many  days  to  copy.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Denon's  time  was  very  limited,  and 
dependant  on  the  hurried  movements  of  an  army,  which 
might  (as  they  did)  hastily  arrest  his  pencil  *. 


THE  PERSIAN  HARP. 

In  Plate  III.  No.  9,  is  given  an  engraving  of  a  boat 
filled  with  female  harpers,  part  of  various  sculptures  on  a 
Persian  arch  near  Kurmanshah,  ten  days  journey  north- 
east from  Bagdad.  The  drawing  is  obligingly  commu- 
nicated by  major  Robert  O'Neill,  formerly  of  his  majesty's 
fifty-sixth  regiment,  who,  in  1807,  took  a  sketch  of  it  on 


the  spot,  on  his  return  from  India.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  Harp  is  not  now  the  instrument  of  that  country,  and 
that  those  delineated  contain  so  limited  a  number  of 
strings.  The  major's  explanatory  letter  to  the  autaur  of 
this  treatise  is  as  follows : 

"  SIR,  Coleraine,  February  7,  I8O9. 

"  The  subjects  of  which  I  have  the  honour  to  send 
"  you  drawings  from  sketches  taken  on  the  spot,  occurred 
"  on  my  journey  through  Persia  in  the  vear  1807,  and 
"  are  situated  about  seven  miles  to  the  eastward  of  the 
"  town  of  Kurman  Shaw.  No.  1,  is  a  view  of  the  cx- 
"  terior  of  the  arch,  on  the  left  side  of  which,  inward,  is 
"  the  sculpture  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  second 
<c  drawing.  This  excavation  is  made  into  the  base  of  a 
u  high  mountain  ;  is  thirty-four  feet  in  height,  twenty- 
"  one  feet  wide,  and  extends  into  the  rock  about  the 
"  same  distance.  The  further  end  has  several  rude 
"  sculptures  on  it,  but  in  the  most  prominent  style  Of 
"  alto-relievo.  The  centre  figure,  in  the  upper  part,  is 
"  said  by  the  natives  to  represent  Cyrus  between  his 
"  wives.  The  lower  one  is  an  armed  chieftain  mounted 
"  on  a  quadruped,  having  the  body  and  limbs  of  a  horse, 
"  with  the  head  of  a  tyger.  This  figure  carries  on  his 
"  shoulder  a  huge  spear,  and  on  his  left  arm  a  shield. 
<l  These  figures  are  all  very  large  ;  but  the  sides  of  the 
"  arch  are  also  covered  with  sculptures  on  a  small  scale 
"  in  bass  relief.  The  length  of  the  lower  boat,  which 
u  contains  the  female  harpers  is  only  three  feet  six 
"  inches  long.  The  border  on  the  left  of  the  drawing 
"  representing  sprigs,  &c.  incloses  an  oblong  square,  con- 
**  taining  a  variety  of  outre  subjects  which  I  thought 
"  necessary  to  introduce,  as  you  seemed  desirous  only  for 
"  that  part  relating  to  the  female  harpers. 

"  The  opposite  or  right  hand  side  is  covered  with  a 
"  promiscuous  crowd  of  horsemen,  dogs  in  chace,  camels, 
"  &c.  also  in  low-relief. 

"  From  my  knowledge  of  the  present  state  of  that 
"  country,  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  no  in- 
"  strument  in  use  among  the  modern  Persians  in  the  least 
"  resembling  that  in  the  sculpture;  nor  could  I  receive 
"  any  information  of  the  period  in  which  this  excavation 
"  was  formed.  The  figures  are  in  perfect  preservation, 
"  and  the  strings  of  the  Harp  completely  visible ;  the 
"  mounted  figure  is  a  little  mutilated,  but  the  drawing  is 
"  an  exact  representation  of  what  they  appear  at  present. 
11  The  horseman  is  called  by  the  natives  '  BoystownJ  the 
"  place  '  Nacta  fioystown,'  or  the  picture  of  Boystown. 


*  The  pencilled  sketches  of  Bruce's  two  Harps  are  still  preserved  in  his  papers.  On  one  of  them  is  a  direction  to  the  engraver  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, giving  him  a  slight  liberty  to  finish  the  sketches,  but  not  to  change  the  costume  of  the  player.  This  was  written  a  short  time  before  the 
publication  of  his  travels;  but  it  is  evident  to  any  eye  that  the  difference  between  the  engraving  and  the  sketch  is  very  trifling.  These  remarks 
appear  in  the  second  edition  of  Bruce's  Travels,  1804,  in  consequence  of  an  allegation  by  Mr.  Brown,  that  Bruce  seemed  to  have  drawn  these  figures 
from  memory.  The  passage  alluded  to  in  Mr.  Bruce's  Travels  in  Africa,  Egypt,  and  Syria,  published  in  London  1799> 's  tn's :  "  In  these,"  speaking 
of  the  galleries  of  Thebes,  "  appear  the  chief  paintings,  representing  the  mysteries,  which,  as  well  as  the  hieroglyphics  covering  all  the  walls,  are 
"  very  fresh.  I  particularly  observed  the  two  harpers  described  by  Bruce,  but  his  engraved  figures  seem  to  be  from  memory.  The  French  merchants 
"  at  Kahira  informed  me  that  he  brought  with  him  two  Italian  artists;  one  was  Luigi  Bolugani,  the  other  Zucci  a  Florentine."  From  this  pre- 
caution, it  would  seem,  that  Bruce  had  taken  every  means  of  procuring  accurate  delineations.  Mr.  Brown  again  says,  "  the  two  harpers,  and 
"  several  other  human  figures  in  the  caverns  of  Thebes,  called  Biban-el-moluk  (tombs  of  the  kings)  and  in  which  the  colours  are  perfectly  well 
"  preserved,  have  the  features  and  complexions  exactly  resembling  the  Egyptians  of  the  present  day." 


11 


"  At  a  few  yards  distance  is  a  smaller  arch,  at  the 
"  further  end  of  which  are  two  male  armed  figures,  over 
u  the  heads  of  which  are  inscriptions  in  an  unknown 
"  character." 


MUSIC  OF  THE  HEBREWS. 

With  respect  to  the  musical  instruments  of  the  an- 
cient Hebrews,  little  is  with  certainty  known.  In  a  few 
hints  on  the  subject,  Ave  shall  be  chiefly  directed  by  Dom 
Augustine  Calmet's  great  work,  "  Critical  Dissertations  on 
"  the  Old  and  New  Testament." 

The  Hebrews  derived  their  instruments  from  the 
Chaldeans,  their  progenitors,  and  from  the  Egyptians, 
among  whom  they  so  long  dwelt;  from  the  Phoenicians 
and  other  nations  of  Arabia,  in  the  midst  of  whom  they 
were  placed  by  the  situation  of  their  country :  according 
to  rabbinical  authority,  they  had  a  greater  number  of 
instruments  than  other  nations,  no  less  than  thirty-four 
or  thirty-six  kinds*,  of  which  wre  can  only  at  this  day 
retrace  fourteen :  eleven  are  enumerated  in  the  writings 
of  Moses. 

Those  with  which  this  memoir  is  connected  are  the 
following,  on  which  much  dependence  cannot  be  placed, 
on  account  of  the  names  of  such  ancient  instruments 
being  probably  confounded  with  each  other. 

The  nablum,  psalter  ion,  or  assur,  employed  in  the 
pompous  ceremonies  of  religion. 

It  was  nearly  the  figure  of  the  Greek  A,  and  played 
on  with  both  hands. 

The  cythara,  kitros,  or  hazur,  a  triganon  or  triangular 
figure  with  ten  strings,  played  on  as  the  former. 

The  ancient  lyre,  or  Egyptian  kinnor *j-;  called 
also  kinyra,  psalterion,  and  cythara:  its  invention  is  as- 
cribed to  the  Egyptian  Mercury:  it  was  in  use  before  the 
deluge,  [Genesis  iv.  21.]  :  it  had  ten  strings,  was  used  by 
David  when  he  played  before  Saul,  and  was  the  instru- 
ment which  the  Babylonish  captives  hung  on  the  willows  : 
its  size  must  have  been  small,  as  the  royal  psalmist  held 
it  in  his  hands  when  dancing  round  the  ark  ;  it  was  com- 
mon also  at  Tyre.  On  a  Hebrew  medal  of  Simon  Mac- 
cabeus, there  are  figures  of  two  instruments  with  only 
three  or  four  strings,  but  very  different  from  the  form  of 
our  present  Harps  J.  Father  Montfaucon,  with  all  his 
research,  found  it  difficult  to  determine  in  what  the  lyre, 
cithara,  chelys,  psaltery,  and  Harp,  differed  from  each 
other.  Six  hundred  lyres  and  cithara  of  which  he  ex- 
amined the  figures  in  ancient  sculptures  were  without 
necks,  the  strings  open  as  the  modern  Harp,  and  played 
with  the  fingers  §. 


Of  such  importance  was  music  held  even  in  the 
earliest  times,  that  we  see  by  Plato,  that  it  was  fixed 
and  made  unalterable  in  Crete  and  Egypt :  as  far  as  pre- 
sent documents  extend,  we  are  to  consider  the  latter  as 
the  fountain  of  music  and  musical  instruments  to  after 
generations  ||. 


THE  GREClxVN  LYRE. 

The  Greeks  pretended  that  their  music  descended  to 
them  from  the  gods,  but  were  obliged  to  admit  that  the 
greater  part  of  their  instruments  were  had  from  other 
quarters,  viz.  Phrygia,  Lydia,  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Persia. 

The  instruments  both  of  the  Greeks  and  Latins  bavins  had 

f 

their  origin  in  the  cast  (as  the  Romans  admitted)  ought, 
in  some  degree,  to  resemble  those  of  the  Hebrews,  which 
were  the  same  as  the  Egyptians,  Chaldeans,  Phoenicians, 
and  Syrians. 

The  fabulous  history  of  Greece  attributes  the  in- 
vention of  the  lyre  to  Mercury,  who  gave  it  to  Apollo ; 
its  body  was  originally  the  shell  of  a  tortoise,  and  thence 
by  the  Romans  afterwards  called  testudo.  Diodorus 
Siculus,  who  wrote  forty-five  years  before  the  Christian 
a=ra,  mentions  that  at  first  it  had  only  three  strings,  and 
afterwards  four:  Suidas  gives  it  four ;  and  says,  that  it 
remained  at  that  number  for  856  years;  from  Amphion 
to  Terpander  671  years  before  Christ.  He  adds,  that 
Terpander  ^[  increased  it  to  seven  (a  heptacord  supplying 
the  player  with  two  conjoint  tetracords),  at  which  number 
we  know  that  it  was  limited  by  law  in  the  Spartan  state  ; 
others  alleged,  that  the  Grecian  lyre  was  alwavs  of  seven 
strings,  and  that  the  smaller  number  related  merely  to 
the  Egyptian.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Ter- 
pander we  are  told  that  Pythagoras,  560  years  before 
Christ,  added  an  eighth  string,  which  formed  two  disjoint 
tetracords.  But  Dr.  Burney  notices  that  this  is  irre- 
concilable with  Homer's  hymn  to  Mercury  [line  51]  in 
Avhich  the  chelys,  or  testudo,  is  mentioned  as  consisting 
of  seven  chords. 

Timotheus  was  born  at  Miletus,  an  Ionian  city  of  Caria, 
346  vears  preceding  the  Christian  era,  being  cotemporary 
with  Philip  of  Macedon.  According  to  Pausanias,  he  at- 
tempted to  extend  the  lyre  from  seven  to  eleven  string  j 
but  Suidas  tells  us  that  it  had  nine  before  the  alteration, 
and  that  Timotheus  only  gave  it* a  tenth  and  eleventh. 
It  is  agreed,  however,  that  the  increase,  whatever  it  was 
made  up  the  number  eleven;  and  that  the  musician 
was  banished  by  an  edict  of  the  Ephori  of  Sparta,  for 
thus  daring  to  innovate  on  the  simplicity  of  their  national 
music  **. 


•  Kircher.  t  Conor,  Crith,  or  Cennaire;  croith  is  an  tmk  term  for  a  Harp. 

%  Encvclop.  Brit.  §  Antiq.  Expl.  iii.  Lib.  5.  cap-  3. 

||  Dr.  Burney 's  opinion  deserves  great  credit,  that  the  Hebrews  had  their  music  and  instruments  from  the  Egyptians. 

%  It  was  said  Terpander  composed  music  (probably  recitative)  for  the  Iliad. 

**  This  senatus  consultum  is  preserved  by  Boethius.  It  does  not  appear  in  his  five  books  of  music,  first  printed  at  Venice,  14op;  but  it  is  found 
ia  a  MS.  of  his  de  musicaof  the  eleventh  century,  preserved  in  the  British  Museum.    Boethius  was  born  at  Home,  A.D.  470,  and  put  to  oe?ih  by 


12 


Jtis  remarkable  that  eleven  chords  is  the  number  which 
Denon  says  that  the  Harp  consisted  of,  delineated  in  the 
fourth  chamber  of  the  sepulchral  grottos  at  Thebes.  In 
course  of  time,  as  luxury  prevailed  in  Lacedemon,  the  in- 
strument was  extended  to  forty  strings. 

Those  figures  of  lyres  that  have  been  preserved  to 
modern  times  contain  either  five  chords  (as  Bruce's  Abys- 
sinian one),  six,  seven  (as  the  Etruscan),  ten,  eleven,  or 
an  indefinite  number. 

In  Plate  III.  Nos.  7,  8,  10,  1 1 ,  1 2,  1 3,  of  this  collection 
are  representations,  from  the  great  work  of  Montfaucon,  of 
six  of  those  lyres,  the  figures  of  which  have  reached  our 
time,  to  which,  in  Plate  IV.  we  have  added  the  ancient 
bagpipe;  these  will  be  sufficient  for  elucidation*. 

Plate  IV.  [fig.  No.  10.]  The  bagpipe,  called  in  Latin, 
tibia  utricularis,  and  in  Greek  xo-xxuXo;  (askaulos),  was 
u^ed  by  the  ancients :  we  have  the  image  of  one  here 
taken  from  a  bass  relief,  in  the  court  of  the  palace  of 
prince  Santa  Croce  at  Rome,  near  the  church  of  Saint 
Charles  in  Catinari.  There  is  another  like  it  under  the 
arms  of  a  shepherd  in  the  cabinet  of  cardinal  Albani. 

Plate  IV.  [fig.  No.  8.]  "  This  instrument  is  a  very 
extraordinary  one  it  hath  on  one  side  two  flutes,  or 
pipes,  each  of  which  hath  four  or  five  holes  or  stops;  and 
on  the  other  side  nine  pipes,  which  seem  to  be  fixed  on  a 
piece  of  wood  ;  the  pipes  are  disposed  like  those  of  Pan's 
flute,  or  syrinx  :  they  grow  continually  less  ;  there  is  one 
hole  to  blow  into  this  musical  instrument :  it  is  copied 
from  a  medal  (called  contornato)  of  Nero."  It  has  by 
some  been  conjectured  that  this  instrument  gave  the  idea 
of  the  modern  organ.  A  knob  which  appears  on  the  upper 
lid  of  the  bellows  might  lead  to  the  supposition,  that  it 
was  a  weight  for  equalizing  the  expenditure  of  the  wind, 
like  that  used  in  the  bellows  of  our  organs. 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  2.]  "  The  woman  playing  on  the 
lyre,  tunes  her  lyre  or  guitar  (for  we  cannot  distinguish 
the  one  from  the  other),  to  play  in  honour  of  the  goddess 
placed  on  the  pedestal ;  she  looks  like  a  Venus,  but  the 


Coan  Venus,  who  was  dressed,  and  not  the  Cnidian,  who 
was  naked." 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  8.]  "  A  lyre  with  seven  strings, 
taken  from  an  antique  globe  of  the  Farnesi,  which  has  the 
constellations  marked  on  it:  this  monument  was  made  in 
the  times  of  the  Antonines.  The  lyre  of  Orpheus  also, 
according  to  Virgil,  had  seven  strings. 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  12.]  "A  lyre  with  ten  strings,  seen 
frequently  in  ancient  monuments;  it  is  remarkable  for  its 
large  square  base:  the  reader's  eye  will  observe  the  rest. 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  11.]  «  The  lyre  of  Pythagoras,  the 
Zacynthian,  described  by  Athenceus  (L.  14,  c.  15.  p.  637.) 
Artemon,  says  he,  writes  thus ;  concerning  the  musical 
instrument  called  a  tripod,  we  are  not  sure  whether 
several  instruments  of  music,  mentioned  by  writers,  were 
ever  in  being,  especially  the  tripod  of  Pythagoras;  the 
zacynthian  was  presently  forgot,  either  because  it  seemed 
very  difficult  to  manage,  or  for  some  other  reason  :  it  was 
like  the  tripod  of  Delphos,  and  therefore  was  called  the 
tripod;  Pythagoras  used  it  as  three  lyres.  The  feet  of 
it  were  placed  on  one  equal  base  :  it  was  like  a  stool  that 
could  be  turned  any  ways  about ;  the  strings  were 
stretched  over  the  spaces  between  the  feet,  fixed  to 
pieces  of  wood  with  pins  underneath  to  stretch  them. 
The  vase  which  terminated  this  instrument  above  had 
very  curious  ornaments ;  some  hung  down  from  it,  which 
served  both  for  ornament  and  to  spread  the  sound.  Py- 
thagoras played  a  different  measure  on  every  interval;  in 
the  whole  three,  the  Doric,  the  Lydian,  and  the  Phrygian: 
he  sat  on  a  chair  made  on  purpose  ;  he  used  his  left  hand 
for  beating  it,  and  managed  the  plectrum  with  the  other. 
In  whichever  of  these  measures  he  played,  he  turned  round 
the  instrument  with  his  foot,  which  was  easily  moved  ;  and 
he  could,  by  constant  practice,  move  his  hand  so  quickly 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  that  they  who  did  not  see  him 
would  imagine  they  heard  three  men  playing  different 
measures.  After  his  death  there  were  no  more  of  this 
kind  made."    This  description  is  given  us  of  the  famous 


order  of  Theodoric  the  Goth  in  525.  Former  translations  of  this  extraordinary  document  into  both  French  and  English  having  been  made  from  very 
corrupt  texts,  the  author  is  induced  to  exhibit  a  less  imperfect  copy  of  the  original,  and  to  annex  a  better  translation,  which  he  has  been  enabled  to 
do  by  the  assistance  of  a  learned  friend. 

EtcsiJij  T\uo9£Of,  o  MiXyo-io;,  Kxpxyivo^tvo;  etc  rxvroXtv  r^ltpav  ,rxv  itxXa\xv  fj.xxv  auu,x<rx;,  xxt  rxv  Six  rxv  hizlx  y^opSxv  xrtxpio-iv 
airos~p£$op.Evo$,  rsoXitpwvixv  sio-xywv,  XvpatVElxt  ras  axox;  ruiv  veuiv  Six  ft  rx;  itoXvyo;  Six;  xxt  rxv  xa.ivo1a.lx  rw  (xeXeo;  xysvij  xxi 
itwftxv,  avr<  xaSajaj  xxv  rerxy^Evx;  x<j,<pt£vvvlxi  rxv  jmuixv  a-vvifx^evc;  ezat  xpwpxlo;  rxv  too  ^eXeo;  Svo-xXeixv,  xvrt  rxp  Evxpix-oviio 
irtiujv  xvlts~%o<pov  apotfixixv  ■srxpxxX^ht;,  Se,  xat  e;  rov  xyiuvx  rx;  EXeutnvix;  Axpxrgo;,  xtfpstex  EtrxeSxirxro  rxv  rw  /xuflai  SutrxXeixv, 
rxv  rx;  T-e^eXx;  oSvvx;,  cuv  Ivsxx  rx;  vein;  St8xo~xet. 

AsJop^aj  <pxv  ifspt  rovrwv  rw;  %x<tiXex;  xxi  rw;  pyrogx;  psutyxarhxi  TtjioQeov  en  Ss  xvxyxxo-xt  Srj  rav  tvSsxx  %of£av  exIxuleiv  rag 
Kepilrx;,  a-KoXmofxEvov  rw;  iitla.  rovw; :  exxrx'lw  Ss  apxt  mXio;  fafor  vrtw;  svXxG^rxi  ev  rxv  Htxplxv  ETtupE^Eiv  n  rwv  prt  xxXwv  eSmv, 
Wrto'iE  rxqxrli]  rat  xXeo;  xyuvwv  (a). 

"  Whereas,  Timotheus  the  Milesian,  a  sojourner  in  our  city,  despising  the  ancient  music,  and  rejecting  the  method  of  playing  on  the  lyre, 
"  which  is  done  by  seven  strings,  corrupts  the  ears  of  our  youth,  by  introducing  a  multiplied  harmony,  and  by  the  addition  of  several  strings  and 
"  the  variations  of  the  tunes,  instead  of  a  chaste  and  regular,  he  assumes  a  degenerate  and  elaborate  species  of  music,  rendering  the  music  of  our  times 
"  infamous  by  the  use  of  chromatic  notes,  and  substituting  an  alternate  responsive  melody  in  the  room  of  the  enharmonic.  Moreover,  being  in- 
"  vited  to  the  rights  of  the  Eleusinian  Ceres,  he  spread  abroad  a  scandalous  report,  by  exhibiting  to  the  young  men  the  pains  of  Semele:  it  hath 
"  been  decreed  by  the  king  and  the  ephori  to  rebuke  Timotheus,  and  to  compel  him  to  cut  off  the  superfluous  strings  from  the  eleven  (t),  leaving 
"  only  the  seven  tones ;  and  that  he  should  be  banished  to  a  great  distance,  as  a  pest  to  the  city;  that  all  men  may  fear  to  introduce  any  evil  custom 
"  into  Sparta,  and  that  the  honour  of  our  sacred  rites  may  not  be  infringed." 

*  The  description  of  these  instruments  is  taken  from  the  original  book  of  Montfaucon's  Antiquities,  vol.  iii.  Supplement. 


(«)  Dionysii  Hymni,  Sec.  Oxon,  1C72,  8vo. 


Ci>)  Doui  Caluiet  baa  unaccountably  translated  iyhxn  neuf,  nine,  instead  of  eleven. 


tripod  of  Pythagoras  of  Zacynthus  by  Atherueus;  which 
description  seems  to  coincide  exactly  with  the  drawing 
Bianchini  sent  to  Montfaucon ;  he  says  it  is  taken  from  a 
bass  relief  at  Rome,  belonging  to  the  Maffei,  a  noble  Ro- 
man family.  This  monument  represents  the  whole  choir 
of  muses,  which  Montfaucon  gave  after  Spon,  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  Antiquity.  But  the  figures  are  too  small  in 
the  image  here  to  distinguish  all  the  parts. 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  10.]  "  The  lyre  taken  from  the 
table  of  Alexander ;  the  ornaments  of  it  deserve  to  be  con- 
sidered ;  the  number  of  strings  here  is  not  the  same  as  in 
the  Pai is  edition  of  1617.  Another  was  taken  from  the 
cabinet  of  cardinal  Albani;  the  base  is  square." 

Plate  III.  [fig.  No.  13.]  "  The  Harp  is  very  like  that 
usually  pictured  in  king  David's  hands:  it  has  this  shape 
on  ancient  monuments."  This  is  the  only  figure  given  by 
Montfaucon  as  an  antique,  that  bears  much  resemblance 
to  the  triangular  Harp  of  later  times.  It  will  occur  at 
first  inspection  that  the  chief  similarity  is  in  external 
figure;  since  the  difference  between  its  longest  and 
shortest  string  would  produce  even  less  variety  of  tone 
than  other  Greek  instruments  totally  unlike  the  Harp ; 
the  limited  number  of  its  notes  (eleven)  rendered  it  in- 
capable of  a  bass  movement,  and  in  no  respect  does  it  seem 
superior  to  the  ancient  lyre,  before  its  compass,  in  the 
course  of  time,  had  been  extended  by  a  considerable  in- 
crease of  strings. 

In  what  intervals  the  tones  ascended  in  the  rudest  or 
most  improved  lyre  is  uncertain,  whether  by  quarter,  half, 
or  whole  tones.  Strange  as  it  appears,  we  know  that  the 
ancients  were  acquainted  with  the  enharmonic  genus,  even 
with  the  diesis  or  quarter  tone.  The  diesis  was  in  partial 
use  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  but  seems  to  have  been 
confined  to  their  ablest  practitioners,  and  gradually  to 
have  been  laid  aside.  Of  that  minute  division  modern 
Europeans  ears,  after  all  our  refinement,  seem  incapable  *, 
though  it  was  known  so  early  as  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  323  years  before  Christ,  as  appears  in  the  works 
of  Aristoxenus,  the  first  writer  on  music  whose  productions 
have  reached  us,  and  in  whose  time  the  lyre  was  extended 
to  two  octaves. 

The  credit  of  discovering  musical  notation  is,  by 
Plutarch  and  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  given  to  Terpander ; 
by  other  writers  to  Pythagoras,  two  centuries  later. 

Of  counterpoint,  or  bass  accompaniment,  it  is  agreed 
that  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Romans  were  alike  igno- 
rant. Dans  la  musique  ancienne  il  n'y  avoit  q'une  par  tie ;  on 
rCy  voyoit  point  les  divers  tons,  et  les  accords  de  plusieurs  voir, 


13 

que  Von  remarque  dans  la  notre.  Toutcs  les  voir,  et  les  in- 
strument du  concert  suivoient  la  meme  teneur,  et  le  vieme 
ton.  [Calmet  Diss,  sur  Lamnazeach  et  sela.]  Rousseau  says, 
that  the  ancients  had  no  idea  of  counterpoint,  which  he  is 
pleased  to  style  "  a  Gothic  and  barbarous  invention." 

With  instruments  of  such  limited  powers  as  the  lyres 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  it  is  hard  to  conceive  how  the  ex- 
traordinary effects  attributed  to  their  music  could  have 
been  produced.  To  account  for  it  at  all,  we  are  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to  their  vast  chorusses  of  voices  and  in- 
struments f.  Though  it  is  well  ascertained  that  neittier 
of  those  great  nations  of  antiquity  were  acquainted  with  a 
bass  movement,  we  might  be  tempted  to  conjecture  that 
the  Egyptians  were.  In  the  figures  of  the  T/uban  J/arp, 
the  regular  descent  of  the  strings,  from  so  high  to  so  low 
a  pitch,  rendered  the  instrument  at  least  capable  of  such 
movements,  and  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  formed  witli 
that  intention.  The  great  strings  availed  little,  if  used 
merely  for  a  repetition  of  the  strain  on  a  lower  kev ;  as 
the  ear  grows  less  susceptible  of  musical  intervals  when 
j    we  approach  the  deepest  tones. 


MUSIC  OF  THE  ROMANS. 

The  Romans  invented  no  musical  instruments  them- 
selves, at  least  no  stringed  ones.  Those  mentioned  by 
their  writers  were  either  Etruscan  or  Greek  ;  and  from  the 
Greeks  they  borrowed  even  their  notation.  This,  how- 
ever, they  greatly  improved.  The  ancient  Greeks  never 
found  out  a  shorter  way  in  writing  than  by  means  of  1210 
or  1620  musical  characters,  and  for  sound  alone  they  had 
120.  The  Latins  applied  the  Roman  capital  letters  to  the 
sounds  that  composed  the  scale  A.  to  P.  fifteen  in  number; 
they  required  the  fewer,  as  by  that  time  the  enharmonic 
and  chromatic  genus  had  fallen  out  of  use.  It  appears 
by  Cornelius  NeposJ,  and  also  by  Cicero^,  that  music 
was  disregarded  by  the  Romans. 

We  now  return  to  the  Harp,  the  earliest  instrument 
on  record,  the  delight  of  the  northern  countries;  the 
music  of  Ireland  from  remotest  ages  ;  and  of  Britain 
under  the  British,  Saxon,  Danish,  and  Norwegian  kine>. 
The  coins  and  sculptures  of  Greece  and  Rome  present  us 
with  the  figures  of  no  instrument  constructed  on  the  same 
principles ;  yet  the  combined  authorities  of  Bri  ce, 
Denon,  and  Brown,  establish  its  affinity  with  the 
Theban  Harp.    Whence  then  did  we  derive  this  in- 


*  Dr.  Burney  says,  that  he  has  found  that  the  present  Arabian  scale  of  music  is  divided  into  quarter  tones ;  and  that  an  octave,  which  in  our 
keyed  instruments  is  only  divided  into  twelve  semitones,  in  the  Arabian  scale  consists  of  twenty-four.  The  reader  who  is  not  conversant  with  the 
subject,  is  informed  that  the  diatonic  genus,  or  natural  scale,  consists  of  tones  and  semitones,  as  our  own  :  the  chromatic  of  semitones  and 
minor  thirds ;  and  that  these  two  are  all  that  is  used  in  Europe  :  the  enharmonic  moved  by  quarter  tones  and  major  thirds.  The  tone,  semitone, 
and  diesis,  or  quarter  tone,  constitute  therefore  the  difference  of  these  three  genera. 

t  Bonet,  Histoire  de  la  Musique. 

Dr.  Haydn  declared  to  a  friend,  that  the  strongest  impression  he  had  ever  experienced  was  produced  by  the  charity  children  singing  a  psalm  to  a 
plain  melody  at  their  great  annual  assembly  in  St.  Paul's  church,  London,  which,  he  said,  affected  him  so  powerfully,  that  he  was  confident  he 
should  remember  it  to  his  latest  hour. 

X  Corn.  Nepos,  Life  of  Epaminondas.  §  Cicero's  Tusciuan  Questions,  lib.  i.  ch.  1. 

E 


14 


strument,  so  superior  in  the  arrangement  and  structure 
of  its  parts?  That  the  bards  stumbled  by  chance  on  the 
most  perfect  form  of  a  stringed  instrument,  calculated  for 
a  bass  accompaniment,  of  which  both  Greece  and  Rome 
were  ignorant*,  is  an  untenable  conjecture. 

The  compass  and  peculiar  form  of  the  Harp  shew 
that  it  was  to  be  played  upon  with  both  hands,  and  leave 
little  reason  to  doubt  that  it  was  calculated  with  a  view 
to  harmony  as  well  as  melody:  of  the  former,  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  were  necessarily  deprived  by  the  shape  and 
limited  powers  of  their  lyre.  The  arm  of  the  Harp  con- 
tradicts the  supposition  that  it  was  the  production  of 
chance;  its  complicated  curvature  is  exactly  adapted  to 
its  purpose,  and  has  been  produced  by  calculation,  or  at 
least  by  design.  Were  it  asked  M  by  what  curve  ali  the 
strings  of  an  instrument  of  its  compass  will  bear  an  equal 
stress,  supposing  them  to  increase  in  thickness,  from  the 
shortest  treble  to  the  longest  bass,  so  that  none  of  them 
will  be  more  liable  to  break  than  another,  and  yet  be 
equally  tight  under  the  fingers,  according  to  their  length ;" 
the  answer  will  be  the  highest  eulogium  on  the  Harp. 
The  harpsichord  has  for  centuries  past  been  supposed  to 
owe  its  origin  to  the  Harp,  for  it  is  nothing  but  an  hori- 
zontal Harp. 

That  our  triangular  Harp  owed  its  origin  to  the  east  is 
an  hypothesis  which  grows  more  plausible  the  longer  it  is 
examined.  No  intermediate  instrument  is  known  between 
it  and  the  Theban,  from  which  the  former  could  be  bor- 
rowed f.  Vincentio  Galilei  indeed  ascribes  its  invention 
to  Ireland^;  and  Selden  mentions,  that  the  picture  on  the 
reverse  of  one  of  the  oldest  English  coins  is  an  Apollo 
having,  his  Harp  encircled  by  the  name  of  Cunobelin,  then 
chief  king  of  the  Britons§,  twenty-four  years  before  the 
birth  of  our  Saviour.  Selden,  however,  seems  to  be  in 
error,  since  it  appears  in  the  learned  Mr.  Pegge's  engrav- 
ings of  a  complete  collection  of  the  thirty-nine  existing 
coins  of  Cunobelin  (gold,  silver,  and  brass),  that  the  only 
two  which  have  a  figure  like  an  Apollo,  gives  him  his 
appropriate  instrument,  the  lyre,  and  no  Harp||.  On  the 
whole,  we  conceive  that  the  conjecture  which  claims  the 
greatest  credit,  on  a  point  involved  in  much  difficulty,  is, 
that  the  Harp  was  derived  from  the  druidical  bards. 

We  shall  now  endeavour  to  trace  the  Harp  through 
ages  comparatively  modern,  to  that  in  which  it  probably 
originated. 

The  history  and  annals  of  the  ancient  Britons,  and  of 
the  other  Celtic  nations,  were  composed  in  verse,  and 
sung  to  the  music  of  the  Harp^[,  as  we  find  by  Tacitus. 

From  Buchanan  we  learn**,  that  "  Ethodius  (twenty- 
fifth  king  of  Scotland)  having  established  peace,  made  a 


progress  through  that  kingdom,  during  which  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  administration  of  justice,  the  sports  of  the 
field,  and  the  enacting  of  game  laws,  many  of  which  are 
preserved  to  this  day.  But  having  a  harper  from  Ireland 
in  his  chamber  at  night  (after  the  manner  of  the  Scottish 
nobles),  he  was  murdered  by  him  in  revenge  for  the  death 
of  a  relation,  which  he  imputed  to  the  king.  While  they 
were  leading  this  man  to  execution  he  seemed  indifferent 
to  his  approaching  torments,  and  exhibited  the  appearance 
of  one  who  thought  he  had  performed  his  duty  well." 
In  the  same  author  we  find  this  passage :  "  These  men 
"  bargained  with  a  harper  for  the  murder  of  Fethalnachus, 
"  thirty-eighth  king  of  Scotland ;  for  this  kind  of  men 
"  were  accustomed  to  spend  the  night  in  the  chambers  of 
"  the  nobles  to  lull  them  to  sleep,  or  entertain  them  when 
"  lying  awake,  an  usage  which  is  still  observed  by  the 
"  ancient  Scots  in  all  the  British  isles;  accordingly  on  the 
"  appointed  day,  they  were  admitted  by  the  harper,  and 
"  dispatched  the  king."  It  is  demonstrable  from  the  first 
of  these  passages,  that  the  Harp  was  a  very  early  instru- 
ment in  Ireland,  and  that  it  must  have  long  been  consider- 
ed in  perfection  there,  before  the  period  to  which  the 
transaction  alludes.  Fable  and  conjecture  mix  so  much  in 
the  early  period  of  modern  history,  that  little  dependence 
can  be  placed  on  the  point  of  time.  The  first  of  these 
passages,  however,  renders  it  almost  certain,  that  the  habit 
of  entertaining  Irish  harpers  obtained  at  a  period  anteiior 
to  the  regular  annals  of  Scotland. 

The  Harp  was  found  by  Martianus  Capella  among  the 
northern  nations  who  possessed  the  Roman  empire  in  the 
fifth  century.  Eucherius,  bishop  of  Lyons,  in  that  age, 
informs  us,  that  the  nablum  was  like  the  barbarian  cithara, 
and  shaped  like  the  Greek  delta;  this  is  the  only  descrip- 
tion of  the  ancient  Harpff. 

The  early  passion  of  the  Irish  for  music,  and  par- 
ticularly for  that  of  the  Harp,  appears  among  other 
things  in  the  traditional  fame  of  St.  Patrick's  Harp  in  the 
fifth  century,  recorded  by  Cambrensis.  Both  that  Saint 
and  Columb  made  singing  part  of  their  monastic  rule. 
The  former  was  frequently  called  Padruic  a  chanos  na 
sailm;  or  Patrick  the  singer  of  psalms. 

Venantius  Fortunatus,  in  the  sixth  century,  makes  the 
Harp  a  barbarian  instrument,  distinguishing  it  from  the 
Greek  and  Roman  lyres,  and  from  the  British  crwth ;  from 
which  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  last  was  of  British  in- 
vention. France  was  then  possessed  by  Romans,  Goths, 
Franks,  Burgundians,  and  Armoricas,  some  of  them  Celtic, 
but  most  of  them  Teutonic  nations:  the  national  instru- 
ment of  each  is  accurately  marked  :  The  Teutonic  Harp, 
the  Celtic  cruth,  and  the  Roman  lyre%%. 


*  No  kind  of  bass  accompaniment  was  known  to  the  ancients.    Bonet,  Cahntt,  and  Burney. 

t  Pellontier  in  his  History  of  the  Celts,  says,  that  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  Harp  was  a  Scythian  invention,  and  originally  consisted  of  four 
or  five  strings  made  of  oxes  skin,  and  played  on  with  a  plectrum  made  of  the  jaw-bone  of  a  goat. 
X  This  remark  of  V.  Gaiilei  is  treated  of  at  large  in  another  part  of  this  memoir. 

§  Notes  on  Drayton's  Polyolbion,  Song  vii.  Cunobelin  was  king  of  the  Cassivelauni ;  his  royal  seat  was  in  Essex. 
||  See  his  class  iv.  reverse  of  coins,  No.  1.  and  4.  %  Tacitus  de  mor.  Germ.  C.  2.    Strabo,  C.  1. 

•*  Buchanan,  H.  Scotland,  L.  iv.  Dr.  Ledwich's  enquiry  concerning  the  ancient  Irish  Harp. 

XX  Ven.  Fortun.  speaking  of  the  several  musical  instruments  in  that  country,  gives  the  lyre  to  the  Romans,  the  archilliaca  to  the  Greeks,  the 
crotta  to  the  Britons,  and  the  Harp  to  the  Germans.   Lib.  vii.  Carm.  8. 


We  are  told  that  the  gentler  modulations  of  the  crwth 
were  despised,  and  that  it  was  hanished  into  Wales,  Corn- 
wall, and  Armorica  (Bretagne),  in  which  last  country  Ve- 
nantius  found  it  in  the  sixth  century. 

By  a  passage  in  the  Life  of  St.  Mungo,  alias  Kentigern, 
cotenoporary  with  St.  Columba  in  the  sixth  century*,  we 
find  that  Roderic,  king  of  Wales,  was  so  celebrated  both 
at  home  and  abroad  for  power,  munificence,  and  princely 
virtues,  that  a  king  of  Ireland  sent  a  joculator,  or  jongleur, 
to  the  Welsh  court  to  examine  the  truth  of  what  Fame 
reported.  Being  admitted,  he  sang  and  played  on  the 
Harp  and  tambour,  delighting  the  king  and  his  nobles 
during  the  Christmas  holidays.  About  Epiphany,  the  king- 
ordered  rich  presents  to  be  given- to  the  bard.  Kentigern 
lived  A.  D.  580:  but  let  the  date  be  what  it  may,  the 
anecdote  demonstrates,  that  the  bard,  who  is  here  called 
joculator  and  histrio,  belonged  to  a  society  or  order  in 
Ireland;  that  he  united  the  aits  of  music,  poetry,  and 
song,  for  one  of  the  compositions  is  set  down,  beginning 
Vere,  non  est  similis  tui;  and  that  he  was  instantly  admit- 
ted to  play  before  Roderic,  and  lastly,  was  magnificently 
rewarded. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Welsh,  or  ancient  Bri- 
tons, cannot  trace  their  bards  or  their  music  higher  than 
the  reign  of  the  British  king,  Cadwailader,  who  died 
A.  D.  668.  From  this,  however,  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  were  not  in  possession  of  both  earlier.  Venerable 
Bede  says,  that  in  the  seventh  century  the  Harp  was  so 
generally  played  in  Britain,  that  it  was  customary  to  hand 
it  from  one  to  another  at  their  entertainments,  and  men- 
tions one  who,  ashamed  that  he  could  not  play  on  it, 
slunk  away  lest  he  should  expose  his  ignorance^.  This 
is  particularly  mentioned  in  his  account  of  the  religious 
poet  Ceedmon. 

In  a  manuscript  of  the  same  century,  in  a  monastery 
of  St.  Blasius,  quoted  by  Gerbertus,  the  prince  abbot  of 
that  monastery,  there  is  a  representation  of  a  Harp,  en- 
titled Cythara  Anglica,  the  same  shape  as  the  present 
Harps,  but  of  fewer  strings  J. 

It  appears  by  the  same  authority,  that  it  was  used  in 
Britain  to  Saxon  words  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century, 
on  an  antique  bason  dug  up  near  Soissons,  and  supposed 
by  the  abbe  le  Beuf  to  have  been  executed  before 
A.  D.  152 :  in  one  of  the  compartments  is  a  player  on 
the  Harp,  exalted  on  a  high  seat,  and  on  his  left  hand  a 
player  on  the  viol,  played  with  abow§. 

In  the  ninth  century  we  find  it  again  noticed  by  Iso, 
a  monk  of  St.  Gall  in  Switzerland.    The  founder  of  that 


religious  house  being  an  Irishman  that  had  fled  from  the 
Danish  tyranny,  and  its  monks  mostly  of  the  same  nation, 
they  could  not  be  strangers  to  the  instrument.  But  the 
most  eminent  notice  we  have  of  it  in  that  century  is  in 
A.  D.  878,  when  the  great  Alfred||,  assuming  the  cha- 
racter of  a  harper,  with  an  attendant  to  carry  his  instru- 
ment according  to  the  custom  of  minstrels,  entered  the 
Danish  camp,  where  he  played  before  their  princes. 

About  sixty  years  afterwards  in  the  tenth  century > 
Anlaff,  the  Danish  king  of  Northumberland,  returned  the 
compliment  against  king  Athelstan,  by  dressing  in  a 
minstrel's  habit  and  entering  his  camp,  entertaining  the 
king  and  his  nobles  with  his  voice  and  instrument.  We 
have  this  fact  from  the  same  authority  as  the  last.  "  He 
"  sung  so  sweetly  before  the  royal  tent,  and  at  the  same 
"  time  touched  his  Harp  with  such  exquisite  skill,  that  he 
"  was  invited  to  enter;  and  having  entertained  the  king 
"  and  his  nobles  with  his  music  while  they  sat  at  dinner, 
"  he  was  dismissed  with  a  valuable  present^!." 

The  author  of  the  Life  of  Dunstan,  his  cotemporary 
in  the  tenth  century,  says,  that  the  saint  took  with  him, 
according  to  custom,  his  cithara,  which,  in  their  verna- 
cular tongue,  was  called  a  Harp  **,  and  was  introduced 
to  Athelstan  as  a  player  on  it.  The  monarch  heaped 
treasures  on  Egil  Skillagtim,  a  poet  and  musician  of 
Norway,  on  account  of  the  pleasure  he  received  from  his 
performances. 

Not  only  all  our  kings,  but  almost  all  our  nobility  and 
men  of  fortune,  had  bands  of  secular  musicians  or  min- 
strels in  their  service,  who  resided  in  their  families,  and 
even  attended  them  in  their  journies  for  their  amusement. 
These  domestic  minstrels,  besides  their  board,  clothing, 
and  wages,  which  they  received  from  their  masters,  were 
permitted  to  perform  in  rich  monasteries,  and  in  the  castles 
of  the  barons,  upon  occasions  of  festivity,  for  which  they 
M  ere  handsomely  rewarded. 

The  minstrels  retained  in  noblemen's  families  wore 
their  lord's  livery,  and  those  of  the  royal  household  did 
the  same.  The  queen,  as  well  as  the  king,  had  her  min- 
strels :  they  sometimes  shaved  the  crowns  of  their  heads 
like  monks,  and  put  on  ecclesiastic  habit.  Two  itinerant 
priests  coming,  towards  night,  to  a  cell  of  the  Benedictines 
near  Oxford,  gained  admittance  on  the  supposition  of 
their  being  mimics  or  minstrels ;  but  the  cellarer,  the 
sacrist,  and  others  of  the  brethren,  finding  them  to  be 
indigent  ecclesiastics,  who  could  afford  them  no  amuse- 
ment, beat  and  hurried  them  out  of  the  monasteryti". 

They  were  disliked  by  the  professors  of  rehgion,  who 


*  Anthologia  Hibernica,  vol.  ii.  p.  8.  t  Bede,  Hist.  Ecc.  L  i\\  c.  24. 

X  Gerbertus  de  musica  sacra,  apud  Jones. 

§  Dr.  Burney.  In  Strutt's  English  Dresses,  vol.  i.  plate  \b,  a  figure  appears  of  an  ecclesiastic  playing  on  the  cruith  in  the  eighth  century.  See 
Plate  IV.  No.  2. 

-     ||  Alfred  died  A.D.  000  ;  his  translation  of  Boetius  and  Bede  are  considered  the  most  ancient  literary  monuments  England  can  produce. 

f  In  such  honour  was  the  Harp  held  in  Wales,  that  a  slave  might  not  practise  on  it ;  that  to  he  able  to  play  on  it  was  an  indispensable  qualifi- 
cation of  a  gentleman ;  and  that  it  could  not  be  taken  for  debt.    In  Scotland,  at  the  same  period,  the  barJs  were  considered  in  a  very  dirlerent  point 
of  view,  at  least  by  the  usurper  Macbeth.    He  enacted  a  law  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  whereby  minstrels  were  liable  to  be  yoked  in 
the  plough  instead  of  the  ox  ;  and  by  a  more  ancient  law,  they  were  subject  to  be  branded  on  the  check.       [Barmigton's  Observ.  on  the  Statutes- 
••  Sumpsit  secum,  ex  more,  Citharam  suam,  quam,  paterua  lingua,  Ilearpa  vocuinus.  ft  Hist,  and  Auuq.  Oxiord. 


16 


thought  that  all  honours  and  emoluments  from  the  great 
should  be  confined  to  themselves  and  their  monasteries ; 
they  accordingly  abused  them  on  all  occasions. 

They  professed  themselves  highly  pleased  with  the 
emperor,  Henry  III.  who,  at  his  marriage  with  Agnes  of 
Poictou,  disappointed  the  minstrels  who  had  assembled  in 
great  numbers  on  the  occasion.  "  He  sent  them  away," 
says  a  monkish  author,  "  with  empty  purses  and  hearts 
full  of  sorrow*." 

They  had  a  set  of  songs  of  a  religious  cast,  which  they 
sung  to  their  Harps  in  the  courts  of  kings,  and  in  the  halls 
of  barons,  on  Sundays,  instead  of  those  on  love  and  war, 
which  they  sung  on  other  daysf. 

British  harpers  were  in  repute  in  England  long  before 
the  conquest.  In  doomsday  book,  in  the  eleventh  century, 
the  bounty  of  William  the  Conqueror  to  his  bard  is  re- 
corded. 

In  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan's  reign  {twelfth  century)  they 
were  divided  into  three  new  oi'ders,  poets,  heralds,  and 
musicians:  of  these  musical  bards,  the  first  class  were  per- 
formers on  the  Harp;  the  second,  performers  on  the  six 
stringed  crwth;  and  the  third,  singers  to  the  Harps  of 
others.  A  triennial  meeting,  or  eisteddvod,  was  also  ap- 
pointed by  that  prince,  where  honorary  degrees  were  con- 
ferred, and  various  regulations  from  time  to  time  establish- 
ed. Besides  the  regular  bards,  there  were  unlicensed 
ones  of  a  meaner  kind,  pipers,  players  on  the  three  string- 
ed crwth,  taboui'ers,  and  buffoons;  but  they  wrere  not  con- 
nected with  the  eisteddvod. 

These  Welsh  regulations,  with  many  others,  are  con- 
nected with  bardic  musical  institutes,  formed  on  Irish 
models  and  practices  as  particularly  mentioned  in  different 
parts  of  this  treatise. 

A.  D.  1107,  "  Cadogan,  son  of  Bleddyn  ab  Cynvyn, 
made  a  sumptuous  feast,  to  which  he  invited  the  nobility 
and  gentry  of  the  country  out  of  every  province  in 
Wales  to  his  castle  at  Aberteivi  (Cardigan);  and,  with  a 
view  of  shewing  the  best  respect  to  his  guests,  he  sum- 
moned the  most  eminent  bards  and  vocal  and  instrumental 
musicians  that  could  be  found  in  all  Wales,  to  whom  he 
granted  chairs  (badges)  of  presidency ;  and  they  exerted 
their  talents  for  pre-eminency,  according  to  the  usage  of 
the  feasts  of  king  Arthur.  To  the  candidates  who  re- 
paired to  that  congress  he  gave  laws,  accompanied  with 
honourable  gifts;  and  when  the  entertainment  was  ended, 
he  sent  them  away  thus  honourably  rewarded,  with  gifts 
and  privileges,  every  one  to  the  place  from  whence  he  had 
come  J." 

A.  D.  1135.  u  After  regaining  his  territories,  Grufydd 
ab  Rhys  (prince  of  South  Wales)  made  an  honourable 
entertainment  at  Ystrad  Tywi,  to  which  he  invited  all 


such  as  would  come  in  peace  from  Gwynedd,  Powys,  ] 
Dehenbarth,  Morganoc,  and  the  Marches.    He  provided  ] 
every  delicious  viand  and  liquor,  every  competition  of 
wisdom,  and  every  amusement  of  vocal  and  instrumental 
song:  he  gave  welcome  reception  to  the  poets  and 
musicians.    He  also  provided  all  kinds  of  diversions  of  j 
trick  and  allusion,  shews  and  manly  feats ;  and  to  that  en-  j 
tertainment  came  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan,  with  his  sons,  and 
many  of  the  chieftans  out  of  every  province  in  Wales. 
The  feast  was  kept  up  for  forty  days,  and  then  all  the  I 
visitors  had  permission  to  depart  to  their  homes,  and 
honourable  gifts  were  bestowed  on  such  as  merited  them 
of  the  bards,  musicians,  and  sages,  and  all  others  who  dis-  I 
tinguished  themselves        [The  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan  men- | 
tioned  above,  was  the  prince  who  revised  the  laws  of  the  j 
minstrels  of  Gwyredd  (N.  Wales)  at  the  congress  men-  ] 
tioned  to  have  been  held  in  Glyn-Achlach  (Glendalloch  in  I 
Ireland).] 

It  is  mentioned  both  by  Krantzius  and  Saxo  Gram-  , 
maticus,  that  a  musician  of  Ericus,  king  of  Denmark, 
surnamed  the  Good,  who  reigned  about  the  year  1130, 
having  given  out  that  he  was  able,  by  his  art,  to  drive  men 
into  what  affections  he  listed,  even  into  anger  and  fury; 
and  being  required  by  the  king  to  put  his  skill  in  practice, 
played  so  upon  the  Harp,  that  his  auditors  began  first  to 
be  moved,  and  at  last  he  set  the  king  into  such  a  frantic 
mood,  that,  in  a  rage,  he  fell  upon  his  most  trusty  friends, 
and  for  lack  of  reason,  slew  some  of  them  with  his  fist, 
which,  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  did  much  lament. 
The  story  is  quoted  merely  to  shew  that  the  instrument 
was  admired  in  that  age. 

Very  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  Matilda,  daughter 
of  Malcolm  Canmore,  king  of  Scotland,  and  queen  of 
Henry  I.  was  so  fond  of  music,  and  so  profusely  generous 
to  musicians  and  poets,  that  she  expended  almost  all  her 
revenues  upon  them,  and  even  oppressed  her  tenants,  i 
order  to  procure  money  to  reward  them.  John  of  Sali 
bury  censures  the  great  people  of  his  time  for  imitatin 
Nero  in  his  extravagant  fondness  for  musicians,  and  says, 
that  "they  prostituted  their  favour  by  bestowing  it  on- 
minstrels  and  buffoons,  and  that,  by  a  certain  foolish  and 
shameful  munificence,  they  expended  immense  sums  of 
money  on  their  frivolous  exhibitions." — "  The  courts  of 
princes,"  says  another  cotemporary  writer,  "are  filled 
with  crowds  of  minstrels, who  extort  from  them  gold,  silver, 
horses,  and  vestments  by  their  flattering  songs.  I  have 
known  some  princes  who  have  bestowed  on  these  minstrels 
of  the  devil,  at  the  very  first  word,  the  mgst  curious  gar- 
ments, beautifully  embroidered  with  flowers  and  pictures, 
which  had  cost  them  twenty  or  thirty  marks  of  silver,  and 
which  they  had  not  worn  above  seven  days||." 


•  Chron.  Virtziburgh.  f  Warton's  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry. 

\  From  the  chronicles  of  the  princes  of  Wales  (Brut  y  Tyvvysogiou)  Welsh  Archaiology,  vol.  ii.  p.  537. 
§  Chronicles,  P.  of  Wales.    W.  Archaiology,  vol.  ii.  p.  558. 

||  Rigordus,  A.  D.  1 185,  apud  Henry's  H.  of  Eng.  Beauford,  in  his  treatise  on  the  ancient  music  of  the  Irish,  conceives,  that  the  figure  of  a 
Harp  sculptured  on  a  monument  at  Neig  in  Rossshire  (a  drawing  of  which  appears  in  Cordiner's  Ruins  of  North  Britain,  1784)  is  that  of  the  Harp, 
which  he  supposes  to  have  been  introduced  by  the  Teutones,  a  Gothic  tribe,  into  Britain  in  the  fifth  century,  and  that  his  strings  were  increased  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-eight  on  the  introduction  of  church  music.  It  has  the  exact  curvature  in  the  arm  of  the  present  Harp.  There  is  not  sufficient 
rtason  to  eonclude  that  it  represents  a  Teutonic  Harp,  from  the  mere  circumstance  of  its  being  delineated  on  a  monument,  with  an  accompaniment 


17 


According  to  Brompton*,  who  wrote  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  Irish  then  used  two 
species  of  Harps. 

Blonde],  the  bard  of  Richard  I.  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  person  Avho  discovered  that  monarch  in  a  fortress 
in  Upper  Austria,  at  the  period  when  the  German  poten- 
tate basely  arrested  our  gallant  crusader  on  his  return 
from  the  Holy  Land.  Blondel  is  said  to  have  placed 
himself  opposite  to  the  tower  where  he  suspected  Richard 
to  be,  and  to  have  begun  a  favourite  air  which  Richard 
knew  and  answered:  this  circumstance  shews  the  intimacy 
of  the  harper  with  Richard,  and,  by  inference,  the  honour 
in  which  the  profession  was  held ;  a  harper  of  England 
materially  affected  the  history  of  his  country. 

It  would  appear  that  in  monasteries  it  was  customary 
to  keep  minstrels  in  pay.  In  1180,  Jeffrey  the  harper  is 
recorded  to  have  had  an  annuity  from  the  benedictines  of 
Hide  near  Winchester f. 

The  Irish,  or  Gaelish  bards,  in  early  periods  of  Scotch 
history,  were  held  in  high  estimation,  and  admitted  to 
exhibit  in  the  palaces  of  princes. 

Henry  III.  in  the  year  1242,  gave  forty  shillings  and  a 
pipe  of  wine  to  Richard  his  harper,  and  also  a  pipe  of 
wine  to  Beatrice  the  harper's  wife. 

Edward  I  (about  A.  D.  1271)  shortly  before  he  ascend- 
ed the  English  throne,  took  his  harper  with  him  to  the 
Holy  Land,  who,  when  his  royal  master  was  wounded  with 
a  poisoned  knife  at  Ptolemais,  rushed  into  the  apartment, 
during  the  struggle,  and  killed  the  assassin  p 

In  Strutt's  Dresses  of  the  people  of  England,  we  have 
a  figure  of  a  king  playing  in  the  thirteenth  century  on  a 
portable  or  chamber  Harp  (of  fourteen  strings)  that  rested 
on  his  knees:  it  is  of  the  form  of  the  present  Irish  Harp, 
but  highly  ornamented  in  its  frame  work§.  In  1228  and 
1250,  the  French  had  more  than  thirty  musical  instruments 
in  use  ||. 

In  1309,  seventy  shillings  were  expended  on  min- 
strelsy on  the  installation  of  Ralph,  abbot  of  St.  Augustin's, 
Canterbury,  where  6000  guests  attended  in  and  about  his 
abbey-hall  %. 

In  a  parliament  held  in  Ireland  by  Lionel,  duke  of 
Clarence  (second  son  of  Edward  III.)  about  1327,  it  was 
made  penal  to  entertain  any  of  the  Irish  minstrels,  rymers 
and  news-tellers.  The  band  of  musicians  in  the  royal 
household  then  consisted  of  five  trumpeters,  one  cyteler, 
five  pipers,  one  tabret,  one  mabrer,  two  clarions,  one 
fuller,  three  wayghts,  or  hautbois  **. 

It  appears  in  Stowe,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the 


fourteenth  century,  the  minstrel  had  ready  admission  into 
the  presence  of  kings,  as  appeared  at  that  prince's  cele- 
bration of  the  feast  of  Penticost  at  Westminster.  **  In 
"  the  great  hall,  when  sitting  royally  at  the  table  with  his 
"  peers  about  him,  there  entered  a  woman  adorned  like  a 
"  minstrel,  sitting  on  a  great  horse,  trapped  as  minstrels 
"  then  used;  who  rode  about  the  table  shewing  pastime, 
"  and  at  length  came  up  to  the  king's  table  and  laid  before 
"  him  a  letter,  and  forthwith  turning  her  horse,  saluted 
"  every  one  and  departed:  when  the  letter  was  read,  it 
"  was  found  to  contain  animadversions  on  the  kinsr.  The 
"  doorkeepers  being  threatened  for  admitting  her,  replied, 
"  that  it  was  not  the  custom  of  the  king's  palace  to  deny 
u  admission  to  minstrels,  especially  on  such  high  solemni- 
"  ties  and  feast  days  ft-" 

In  the  reign  of  Edw.  II.  a  public  edict,  dated  from 
Langley's,  August  6,  1315,  stated  that  many  indolent 
persons,  under  the  colour  of  minstrels,  introduced  them- 
selves into  the  residences  of  the  wealthy,  where  they  had 
both  meat  and  drink,  but  were  not  contented  without  the 
addition  of  large  gifts  from  the  household.  To  restrain 
which  abuse,  the  mandate  ordered  that  no  person  should 
resort  to  the  house  of  prelates,  earls,  or  barons  to  eat  or 
drink  who  was  not  a  professed  minstrel,  nor  more  than 
three  or  four  minstrels  of  honour  at  most  in  one  day, 
except  they  came  by  invitation  from  the  lord  of  the 
house.  It  also  prohibited  a  professed  minstrel  from  going 
to  the  house  of  any  person  below  the  dignity  of  a  baron, 
unless  he  was  invited  by  the  master;  and,  in  that  case,  it 
commanded  him  to  be  contented  with  meat  and  drink,  and 
such  reward  as  the  housekeeper  willingly  offered,  without 
presuming  to  ask  for  any  thing.  For  the  first  offence  the 
minstrel  lost  his  minstrelsy;  and  for  the  second  he  was 
obliged  to  forswear  his  profession,  and  never  to  appear 
again  as  a  minstrel  ££. 

Edw.  III.  1334,  a  licence  was  granted  to  Barbor  the 
bagpiper,  to  visit  the  schools  for  minstrels  in  parts  beyond 
the  seas,  with  thirty  shillings  to  bear  his  expenses:  licence 

grnntpH  nun  to  IWfnrlan  the  bagpiper,  to  vioit  the  minstrel's 

school,  forty  shillings  for  his  expenses.  Eleventh  year  of 
same  reign,  John  de  Hoglard,  minstrel  to  John  de  Pul- 
teney,  received  forty  shillings  for  exhibiting  before  the 
king  at  Hatfield  ;  and  Roger  the  trumpeter,  and  his  as- 
sociates the  minstrels,  received  ten  pounds  for  performing 
at  the  feast  for  the  queen's  delivery  §§. 

Gaston  of  Foix,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  gave  a 
grand  entertainment:  the  historian  speaking  of  it  savs, 
there  were  many  minstrels,  as  well  of  his  own  as  of 


of  rural  figures  denoting  a  slate  of  pasturage.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  cut  between  the  eleventh  and  thirteenth  centuries,  and  it  only  proves  that 
the  British  Harp  was,  in  those  ages,  constructed  on  the  same  principle  it  is  now.    [See  its  fig.  Plate  IV.  No.  9.] 

*  Brompton.    Hibernici  in  duobus  musici  generis  instrumentis  quamvis  prxcipitem  et  velocem,  suavem  tamen  et  jucundam. 

+  Madox's  Hist.  Exchequer. 

X  Fifth  Edw.  I.  1276.  The  king's  minstrel  is  mentioned  in  the  account  of  public  expenditures ;  his  name  was  Robert.  In  the  fourth  EJw.  II. 
the  name  appears  again,  when,  with  various  other  minstrels,  performances  were  exhibited  before  the  court  in  York,  and  forty  marks  distributed 
among  them. 

§  Strutt's  Dresses,  vol.  i.  plate  57.  ■  [See  fig.  inserted  in  Plate  IV.  No.  3.  of  this  collection.]  ||  Dr.  Burney. 

%  Warton's  Hist.  Eng.  Poetry.  **  Sir  J.  Hawkins's  II.  of  Music. 

tt  T.  Walsingham's  Hist.  Ang.  A.D.  13 l6.  XX  Strutt's  Sports.  §§  Ibid. 


18 


strangers,  and  each  of  them  did  their  duty  according  to 
their  talents.  Same  day  the  earl  of  Foix  gave  to  the 
heralds  and  minstrels  the  sum  of  500  franks,  and  gave  to 
the  duke  of  Touraine's  minstrels  gowns  of  cloth  of  gold, 
furred  with  ermine,  valued  at  200  franks*. 

About  1330,  Philip  de  Valois  granted  the  minstrels  at 
Paris  a  charter:  and  in  1331,  Jaques  Grue  and  Hughes  le 
Lorraine,  two  of  the  minstrels,  built  the  church  of  Saint 
Julien  des  Menestrieres,  and  were  allowed  patrons,  go- 
vernors, &c;  but  their  licentiousness  caused  them  to  be 
banished  by  Philip  Augustus:  they  were  recalled  by  his 
successor,  and  had  a  chief  appointed  over  them,  under  the 
title  of  king  of  minstrels  f. 

In  A.  D.  1338,  when  Adam  de  Orleton,  bishop  of 
Winchester,  visited  his  cathedral  priory  of  St.  Swithin  in 
that  city,  a  minstrel,  named  Herbert,  sung  the  song  of 
Colbrond,  a  Danish  giant,  and  the  tale  of  queen  Emma 
delivered  from  the  plough  shares  %. 

In  the  Roman  D 'Alexandre,  written  about  A.  D.  1200, 
a  splendid  copy  of  which,  on  vellum,  is  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  Oxford,  there  are  a  number  of  illuminations 
highly  finished.  This  transcript  of  the  work,  which  was 
finished  about  A.  D.  1338,  displays  in  its  drawings  the 
fashion  of  buildings,  armour,  dress,  musical  instruments; 
the  most  frequent  of  the  last  which  occur  are  organs,  bag- 
pipes, lutes,  and  trumpets  \.  Dr.  Burney  adds,  that  there 
are  also  Harps  among  the  number,  of  ten  strings. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  Richard  II.  (A.  D.  1380)  John 
of  Gaunt,  king  of  Castile  and  Leon,  and  duke  of  Lancaster, 
erected  a  court  of  minstrels  at  Tedbury  in  Staffordshire ; 
and  by  a  charter  to  the  minstrels,  intitled  "  Carta  de  roy 
de  Minstraela ,"  empowered  them  to  appoint  annually  a 
king  of  the  minstrels,  with  four  officers  to  preside  over  the 
institution  in  Staffordshire,  Derby,  Nottingham,  Leicester, 
and  Warwick  ||.  Michau,  a  poet,  in  celebrating  the 
praises  of  the  Harp  in  this  century,  mentions,  that  it  con- 
tained twenty-five  strings  ^f. 

From  Froissart  we  learn,  that  the  minstrels  were  long 

Considered    as  necessary  appendages  nf  grrr>:itnps<;.  :\ri(\ 

that  they  held  considerable  state  in  royal  households  in 
Ireland.  When  the  four  Irish  kings,  who  had  submitted 
themselves  to  Richard  II.  in  the  close  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  sat  at  table  under  the  care  of  Henry  Castide,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  teach  them  English  manners,  on 
the  first  dish  being  served,  they  made  their  minstrels 
and  principal  servants  sit  beside  them,  and  eat  from  their 
plates  and  drink  from  their  cups.  Having  objected  to 
this  custom  on  another  day,  De  Castide  ordered  the 


tables  to  be  laid  out  and  covered,  so  that  the  kings  sat  at 
an  upper  -table,  the  minstrels  at  a  middle  one,  and  the 
servants  lower  still.  The  royal  guests  looked  at  each 
other,  and  refused  to  eat,  saying,  that  he  deprived  them 
of  their  good  old  custom  in  which  they  had  been  brought 
up.  It  appears,  however,  that  on  further  explanation, 
they  acceded  **. 

In  the  year  1401,  the  minstrels  at  Paris  had  another 
charter  granted  to  them;  but  at  length  they  sunk  into 
contempt  ff . 

In  an  account  of  the  coronation  of  Henry  V.  at  West- 
minster, A.  D.  1413,  related  by  Elmham,  is  the  following 
passage:  "  What  festival  I  beseech  you  can  be  deemed 
"  more  important  than  one  which  is  honoured  with  the 
"  presence  of  so  many  roval  personages  ;  by  such  a  mul- 
"  titude  of  chiefs  and  ladies;  where  the  tumultuous 
"  sounds  of  so  many  trumpets  compel  the  hearing  to  re- 
"  echo  with  a  noise  like  thunder.  The  harmony  of  the 
"  harpers,  drawn  from  their  instruments,  struck  with  the 
"  rapidest  touch  of  the  fingers,  note  against  note,  and  the 
"  soft  angelic  whisperings  of  their  modulations,  are  gra- 
"  tifying  to  the  ears  of  the  guests.  The  musical  concert 
"  also  of  their  instruments,  which  had  learned  to  be  free 
<c  from  all  sort  of  dissonance,  invites  to  similar  entertain- 
"  ment."  This  work  mentions,  that  the  number  of  Harps 
in  the  hall  on  the  occasion  was  prodigious;  and  he  does 
not  notice  any  other  instrument  JJ. 

The  English  monarch  maintained  twelve  minstrels  at 
court  at  100  shillings  yearly  each:  the  same  was  done  in 
the  succeeding  reign 

In  the  rolls  of  Henry  VI.  the  countess  of  Westmore- 
land, sister  of  cardinal  Beauford,  is  mentioned  as  being 
entertained  in  the  college  of  Winchester  ;  and  in  her 
retinue  were  the  minstrels  of  her  household,  who  received 
gratuities  ||||. 

Ninth  of  Edward  IV.  24  April,  1469,  an  edict  stated 
that  "  certain  rude  husbandmen  and  artificers  had  as- 
"  sumed  the  title  and  livery  of  the  king's  minstrels,  and 
"  under  that  colour  and  pretence,  collected  money  in 
"  divers  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  committed  other  dis- 
"  orders.  The  king,  therefore,  granted  to  Walter 
"  Haliday,  marshal,  and  to  seven  others,  his  own  min- 
"  strels,  named  by  him,  a  charter,  by  which  he  created, 
"  or  rather  restored  a  fraternity,  or  rather  guild,  to  be  go- 
"  verned  by  a  marshal  appointed  for  life,  and  two  war- 
"  dens  who  were  empowered  to  admit  members  into  the 
"  guild,  to  regulate,  govern,  and  punish,  when  necessary, 
"  all  such  as  exercised  the  profession  of  minstrels  through- 


*  Froissart,  iv.  ch.  41. 

t  The  king's  minstrel  was  an  officer  of  rank  in  the  courts  of  the  Norman  monarchs,  accompanied  them  in  their  journeys,  and  kept  near  their 
persons. 

\  Warton's  H.  Eng.  Poetry.  §  Ibid. 

||  Sir  J.  Hawkins's  H.  of  Music  ;  and  also,  Lssay  on  the  English  Minstrels  by  Dr.  Percy,  now  the  venerable  bishop  of  Dromore;  to  which  Essay 
we  find,  by  Dr.  Beattie's  letter  to  Dr.  Blacklock,  22  September,  1766,  that  the  world  is  indebted  for  the  beautiful  poem  "  The  Minstrel." 

%  Dr.  Burney's  H.  of  Music.  •«  Froissart,  apud  Johnes's  Tr.  vol.  xi.  p.  l6l. 

ft  Burney  and  Hawkins.  J  J  Thomas  de  Elmham,  vit.  et  Gest.  Henry  V.  §§  Rimer's  Federa. 

IHI  Ex.  R.  Com.  Ox.  By  the  ancient  roll  of  the  Augustine  priory  of  Bicester,  Oxfordshire,  we  find,  in  1431,  the  fees  to  minstrels  for  particular 
days  playing  ran  from  8d.  to  3s.  4d.j  and  similar  sums  appear  in  the  ancient  rolls  of  Winchester  College,  in  the  years  of  1463  to  1484.  Two  min- 
strels  from  Coventry  are  mentioned  as  having  been  employed  at  the  consecration  of  John,  prior  of  that  convent. 


J9 


"  out  the  kingdom.  The  minstrels  of  Chester,  who  had 
"  by  charter  several  particular  privileges,  were  exempted 
"  in  this  act  *." 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  about  1490,  M  Pudesday, 
the  piper  on  bagpipes,  received  6s.  8d.  from  the  king  for 
his  performance  :"  fourteenth  of  same  reign,  "  5l.  were 
paid  to  the  three  stryng  minstrels  for  wages;  15s.  were 
given  to  a  stryng  minstrel  for  one  month's  wages;  and  to 
a  stranger  taberer,  6s.  8d.  f" 

By  Stanishurst,  it  appears  that  the  Irish  in  his  time 
had  harpers  playing  to  them  at  supper,  who  were  often 
by  no  means  skilled  in  music  ;  but  he  mentions  that  in 
1584,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Crusus  was  an  eminent  per- 
former on  it,  and  says,  that  it  may  be  deduced  from  the 
delight  he  gave  his  auditors,  that  the  Harp  had  not  hither- 
to been  wanting  to  musicians,  but  musicians  to  the  Harp. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  (A.  D. 
1596)  thirty-ninth  year  of  Elizabeth,  a  statute  was  passed, 
by  which  "  minstrels  wandering  abroad"  were  punishable 
in  the  same  manner  as  "  rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy 
beggars."  This  act,  Dr.  Percy  (in  his  admirable  Essay 
on  the  ancient  English  Minstrels,  prefixed  to  his  Reliques 
of  ancient  English  Poetry)  considers  as  having  put  an  end 
to  the  profession  in  England. 

In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Beauford,  the  Gothic  bardic 
Harp,  a  large  instrument  with  deep  bass  tones  used  in 
concert  and  in  large  assemblies  of  the  people,  was  intro- 
duced among  the  Britons  by  the  Saxons,  and  among  the 
Irish  by  the  Saxons  and  Danes:  this  opinion,  however,  is 
contrary  to  high  authority  on  subjects  connected  with  the 
present.  Lluj/d,  in  his  preface  to  his  Archaeologia  Britan- 
nica,  thinks,  that  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Saxons  had 
either  the  Harp  or  letters  |  prior  to  their  arrival  in  Britain 
about  the  fifth  century. 

Having  treated  of  the  Harp  and  its  music  in  general, 
we  are  to  consider  the  Welsh  and  Irish  separately,  with 
their  progressive  improvements,  and  the  musical  con- 
nections bet  ween  their  respective  countries. 


We  have  seen  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  Caesar,  that 
druidism  originated  in  Britain.  Wherever  it  originated, 
the  last  place  we  read  of  druids  in  the  British  dominions, 
is  in  Ireland,  where  they  continued  in  full  possession  of 
all  their  ancient  power  till  the  year  A.  D.  432,  when  St. 
Patrick  undertook  the  conversion  of  the  Irish  to  Christi- 
anity §.  It  is  certain,  that  this  religious  order  was  com- 
prehended in  the  general  bardic  system,  of  which  in- 
strumental music  formed  an  important  part. 


WELSH  HARP. 

[See  Plate  IV.  No.  4.] 

A.  D.  940,  in  the  reign  of  king  Howel  Dda,  the  bards 
of  Wales  were  in  high  estimation  and  enjoyed  great 
privileges.  Y  Bardd  Teulu,  or  the  musicus  aulicus,  cor- 
responding with  our  poet-laureat,  received  on  his  ap- 
pointment, a  Harp  from  the  king,  and  a  gold  ring  from 
the  queen  :  the  former  he  was  on  no  account  whatever  to 
part  with. 

It  appears  that  their  instruments  were  sometimes,  in- 
stead of  hj/de,  or  gut,  strung  with  hair  curiously  braided. 
The  under  graduates  were  obliged,  by  the  ancient  Welsh 
laws,  to  take  the  hair-strung  Harp  till  they  took  a  de- 
gree || .  Their  original  Harp  contained,  as  Pennant  savs, 
nine  strings  for  many  centuries,  and,  like  the  Irish,  it  had 
only  a  single  row.  The  double  row  succeeded,  and  the 
present  triple  row  perfected  the  instrument.  It  is  said  to 
have  been  first  noticed  in  the  fifth  century  in  a  monody 
on  the  Welsh  bard,  Sion  Eos^f :  but  we  conceive  that  this 
requires  confirmation.  Mersennus,  in  1632,  delineated 
the  triple  Harp,  giving  it  four  octaves,  and  in  all  seventy- 
five  strings  **• 

It  comprises  five  octaves  and  one  note,  namelv,  from  A 
in  alt  to  double  B  in  the  bass :  the  three  rows  contain  to- 


*  Strutt's  Sport9. 

Shakspeare's  fidelity  to  historical  truth  gives  a  value  to  what  he  has  written,  which  is  not  due  to  many  poets:  on  that  account  we  venture  to  give 
the  following  lines  from  his  Richard  III.  which  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  that  usurper  :  they  at  least  shew  the  reputation  for  a  prophetic  spirit, 
which  the  Irish  lards  had  in  the  mind  of  the  Father  of  our  Drama,  perhaps  in  that  of  Richard  : 

'*  When  last  I  was  at  Exeter, 

"  The  mayor,  in  courtesy,  shewed  me  the  castle, 

"  And  calls  it  Rougeniont;  at  which  I  started— 

"  Because  a  bard  of  Ireland  told  me  once 

**  I  should  not  live  long  after  I  saw  Richmond." 

t  MS.  Rememb.  Office. 

X  With  respect  to  letters,  his  idea  is  sanctioned  by  Dr.  Johnson  ;  who  says,  in  his  History  of  the  English  Language,  "  that  the  Saxons  entered 
England  about  A.  D.  450,  and  seem  to  have  been  a  people  without  learning,  and  very  probably  without  an  alphabet."  Rob.  \ aughan,  the 
antiquarian,  says,  in  a  letter  to  archbishop  Usher,  that  the  Irish  and  Saxon  characters  were  the  old  British.  The  learned  Rowland  remarks,  that 
if  the  Saxons  had  brought  the  use  of  letters  with  them  from  Saxony,  or  from  wheresoever  they  came,  there  would  have  been  some  remains  either  of 
inscriptions  or  manuscripts  in  that  country,  unless  they  had  all  come  over  to  a  man.  In  no  part  of  Germany  is  there  such  a  character  as  the  S^xon 
to  be  found.  The  Irish  historians  say,  that  they  borrowed  it  from  them ;  and  Camden  says,  that  the  British  Saxons  had  their  letters  from  the  Irish, 
founded  on  an  expression  of  Caesar,  in  his  Description  of  the  Druids,  Grcecis  Uteris  utuntur;  from  which  it  is  likely  that  the  A\  elsh  had  an  alphabet 
of  their  own  before  the  arrival  of  the  Saxons.  [Binglej  s  N .  \\  ales.] 

In  questions  of  such  difficult  discussion,  we  presume  not  to  offer  an  opinion. 

§  Borlase's  Antiq.  of  Cornwall. 

II  Leges  Wallic.x,  or  Cyfrethien,  Hy.  Dda  ac  Eraill,  collected  A.  D.  914  j  translated  into  Latin  by  Dr.  Wotton,  and  published,  London,  1730 
f  Jones's  Rel.  Wei.  Bards.  *•  Mersennus,  lib.  i. 


20 


gftther  ninety-eight  strings;  the  two  outer  ones  are  dia- 
tonics,  and  both  tuned  unisons,  to  give  a  body  of  tone : 
the  middle  row  constitutes  the  sharps  and  flats  *. 

By  musical  compositions,  which  Mr.  Jones  says  (but 
we  know  not  upon  what  authority)  are  extant,  as  played 
about  the  year  A.D.  520,  it  would  appear  that  the  Welsh 
Harp  extended  from  G,  the  first  line  in  the  bass,  to  D  in 
alt,  that  is  twenty-six  diatonic  tones  ;  and  that  there  are 
others,  pieces  of  about  the  year  1100,  which  extend  from 
double  C,  in  the  bass,  to  G  in  alt :  according  to  Mer- 
sennus,  the  cithara  antiqua,  or  ancient  Harp  has,  as  the 
Irish,  but  one  row  of  strings,  which  consisted  of  twenty- 
four  chords,  from  G,  the  first  line  in  the  bass,  to  G  in  the 
fifth  space  in  the  treble  f. 

By  the  institutes  of  prince  Griffyd  ab  Cynan  in  the 
twelfth  century,  the  twenty-four  measures  of  music  before 
spoken  of  were  established,  and  also  five  principal  keys. 
As  they  have  never  been  explained,  they  are  here  inserted 
in  their  own  language,  in  order  that  the  curious  may 
trace  a  similitude  between  them  and  any  of  the  technical 
phrases  applied  to  the  Irish  Harp. 

X  Llymar  Pedwar  Mesur  ar  hugain  cerdd  Bant  Ynol  rheol 
vesur  oil  vail  y  cyvansaddwyd  mewn  eisteddvod,  Su\ 
(MS.) 

Mac  y  Mwn  Hir  111100001010111100001011 

Corfiniwr  11001011 ■  1100101 1 

Corsgolcf  11011001011 

Rhiniart  10011  ■  10011 

Coraldan  ■  111010010001 

TresiHeli  10001110001011 

Wnsach  11110001 

Cor  dia  Tytlach  1011000100111 

Cor  Vinvaen  1011011,1011011 

Corwrgog  1001011011 

Carsi  10001011  •  10001011 

Brathyn  Ysgol  101101001011 

Flamgwr  Gwran  1011,101100110011 

Mac  y  Mwn  Byr  11001111 

Calchan  1100111101 

Bryt  Odidawg  0010  :  0010  :  1101  :  1101 
Trwsgyl  Mawr  00001 1 1 10000101 1 


Tutyr  Bach  00110011 

Mac  y  Mynvaen  00)  MOO  :  0011001111 

Toddyv  01100011 

Hatyr  001011  ■  001011 

Mac  y  Delgi  (0111011 

Alban  Hyvaidd  101 1010001001011 

Alvarch  0000,  0000,  1111.1111 

The  Five  principal  Keys  are 

G  ywair,  the  low  key,  or  key  of  C. 

Cras  gywair,  the  sharp  key,  or  A. 

Lleddo  gywair,  the  oblique  flat  key,  or  F. 

Go  gywair  §,  the  third  above  the  key  note  is  flat. 

Bragod  gywair,  the  mixt  or  minor  key. 

It  is  yet  to  be  discovered  what  was  intended  by  the 
figures  attached  to  each  of  the  above  measures :  it  has 
been  surmised,  that  they  may  have  relation  to  the  scale,  or 
length  of  each  metre,  the  figure  1  standing  for  concords, 
and  0  for  discords. 

Thus  far  this  treatise  had  been  carried,  when  an  idea 
arose,  that  these  measures  might  possibly  be  in  a  different 
language  from  the  preamble  to  them,  and  from  the  five 
keys,  the  latter  of  which  had  been  accompanied  by  a 
translation,  though  the  rest  were  not ;  and  that  that  lan- 
guage might  be  Irish :  a  remark  made  by  Mr.  Jones, 
with  his  accustomed  impartiality,  strengthened  the  sup- 
position ;  "  as  they  have  never  been  explained,"  says  he, 
"  I  forbear  attempting  a  translation,  from  apprehension 
of  mistake,  or  misleading  the  reader." 

What  was'  before  only  conjecture,  we  have  now 
verified.  On  a  manuscript  copy  being  lately  presented 
to  an  eminent  Irish  scholar  ||,  he  found  himself  incapable 
of  rendering  the  preamble  (which  is  Welsh),  but  instantly 
pronounced  the  measures  themselves  Irish  ;  and  without 
hesitation,  wrote  them  out  in  their  own  character  with 
1  English  meanings  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  preamble  being 
offered  to  a  Welsh  scholar,  it  was  as  speedily  translated, 
being  in  the  language  of  his  country. 

The  Irish  in  its  own  and  in  British  characters  are  now 
subjoined,  with  a  translation  into  English  of  each  of  the 
twenty-four  measures. 


*  Bingley's  Hist,  of  N.  Wales.  Others  say,  that  the  right  hand  row  should  contain  the  base  of  thirty-six  strings,  the  left  the  treble  of  twenty- 
six,  and  the  middle  the  semitones  of  thirty-five,  making  in  all  ninety-seven  strings,  tuned  from  double  C  in  the  bass  to  C  in  alt. 

t  Mr.  Jones  mentions  that  he  saw  a  Harp  in  Wales  upwards  of  200  years  old,  formed  with  only  one  row  of  thirty- three  strings,  and  measuring 
four  feet  nine  inches  high ;  this  exactly  answers  to  the  Irish  Harp  in  size  and  number  of  strings,  differing,  probably,  in  its  being  strung  with  gut 
instead  of  brass. 

The  pedal  Harp  is  a  modern  improvement  of  the  continent  by  Simon,  a  man  who  resided  about  sixty  years  ago  at  Brussels.    It  contains  thirty- 
three  strings,  the  natural  notes  in  the  diatonic  scale ;  the  rest  are  made  by  the  feet:  its  compass  is  from  double  B  flat  to  F  in  alt.        [Dr.  Burney.] 
X  Translation  of  the  preamble  from  Welsh  Archaeology,  vol.  iii.  p.  43Q. 

"  These  are  the  twenty-four  measures  of  instrumental  music,  all  according  to  the  rule  of  metre,  as  they  were  composed  in  a  congress  before  many 
"  doctors  of  the  art,  of  Welshmen  and  of  Irishmen,  skilled  in  the  art  in  the  time  of  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan,  and  these  were  entered  in  books  by  command 
**  at  the  same  time,  and  were  thence  transcribed  the  eleventh  day  of  May,  one  thousand  i  ." 

6  Mr.  Jones  says,  that  this  key  i  .  peculiar  to  the  ancient  Welsh  music. 

U  Theophilus  O'Flannigan,  Esq.  Trin.  Coll.  Dublin. 


LI 


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23 


We  are  thus  presented  with  an  historical  incident 
nearly  of  700  years  standing,  establishing,  by  a  new  species 
of  testimony,  the  affirmation  of  ancient  Welsh  and  Scot- 
tish annalists  :  that  the  instrumental  music  of  Wales  was, 
in  king  Stephen's  time  (about  A.  D.  1135),  at  least  settled 
and  improved,  if  not  introduced,  by  a  body  of  Irish  bards, 
called  to  that  country  by  one  of  their  princes*. 

Those  Hibernian  minstrels,  by  inserting  their  twenty- 
four  measures  of  music  in  their  own  language  in  the  body 
of  a  Welsh  record,  have  handed  down  irresistible  evidence 
of  a  fact  that  must  exist  as  long  as  the  general  record 
itself.  That  this  should  have  been  permitted  by  the 
Welsh  was  either  an  act  of  courtesy  to  their  teachers,  or 
a  consequence  of  the  want  of  technical  terms  in  their  own 
language. 

The  institutes  at  large,  as  preserved  in  the  Ashmolean 
Museum,  are  irrefragable  documents  of  the  general  facts  : 
they  are  referred  to  in  the  summons  of  Henry  VIII.  to  an  I 
eisteddvod,  to  be  held  at  Caerwys,  Flintshire,  20th  July, 
1523,  expressly  for  instituting  order  and  good  govern- 
ment "  among  the  professors  of  poetry  and  music,  and 
'*  regulating  their  art  and  profession  according  to  the 
cl  old  statute  of  Gruffyd  ab  Cynan,  prince  of  Aber- 
"  fraw." 


IRISH  HARP. 

Mr.  Beauford  alleges  that  the  Irish  bards  discovered 
from  practice  the  true  musical  figure  of  the  Harp,  by 
altering  the  right  angle  to  an  oblique  one,  and  giving 
a  curvature  to  the  arm  ;  a  form  which,  he  says,  will,  on 
examination,  be  found  to  have  been  constructed  on  true 
harmonic  principles,  and  to  bear  the  strictest  mathe- 
matical and  philosophical  scrutiny  :  the  passage  at  large 
deserves  attention.  "  The  old  bards,  by  making  the  plane 
"  of  their  Harps  an  oblique  angled  triangle,  fell  into  the 
"  true  proportion  of  their  strings,  that  is,  as  the  diameter 
"  of  a  circle  to  its  circumference."    The  late  learned  and 


lamented  Dr.  Young,  in  his  Enquiry  into  the  principal 
Phenomena  of  Sounds  and  Musical  Strings,  has  proved 
that  "  the  latitude  of  the  pulse  of  any  musical  string, 
the  inflecting  and  tending  forces  being  given,  will  be  in  a 
direct  proportion  to  the  length  of  the  string  ;  and  the 
greater  space  the  middle  point  of  such  a  string  vibrates, 
will  be  in  a  direct  ratio  to  the  radius  of  a  circle,  whose 
circumference  is  equal  to  the  latitude  of  the  pulse,  whence 
we  may  reasonably  infer,  that  if  a  system  of  strings  be  so 
tended  that  their  respective  lengths  are  to  each  on  the 
axis  of  suspension,  as  the  radius  of  a  circle  to  its  circum- 
ference, they  will  be  disposed  in  the  best  manner  pos- 
sible;  and  which  the  old  bards,  though  perhaps  unknown 
to  themselves,  hit  uponf." 

According  to  Brompton,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  the 
Irish  had  two  kinds  of  Harps,  the  one  bold  and  rapid,  the 
other  soft  and  soothing.  The  small  Harp,  like  that  de- 
scribed as  Brian  Boiromhe's,  was  strung  with  single 
chords,  and  principally  used  by  ladies  and  ecclesiastics  as 
an  accompaniment  to  their  songs  and  hymns:  Conarcrith, 
or  Ceannaire  Croith,  was  the  great  one  used  in  public 
assemblies  of  the  people  J.  This,  during  the  latter  periods, 
was  strung  with  double  chords:  the  first  measured  thirty- 
two  inches  in  height;  the  present  one  is  about  five  feet. 
It  has  been  alleged  that  the  Irish  ha.d  three  species  of 
Harp  and  the  crwth  §. 

1.  The  clarseh,  or  clarseach  (the  common  Harp). 

2.  Keirnine,  or  small  Harp. 

3.  Cionar,  cruit||. 

Cream-crutin,  creamtine  cruit,  the  crwth,  used  as  a 
tenor  accompaniment  to  the  Harp  at  feasts,  and  parent  to 
the  violin.    [See  Plate  IV.  No.  6.] 

Some  have  thought  that  the  Celtic  crwth  was  primarily 
used  by  the  Irish,  and  that  it  gave  way  to  the  Harp  on  the 
establishment  of  the  Danish  power  over  them,  but  of  this 
we  know  no  evidence. 

The  tympanum,  mentioned  by  Cambrensis  as  an  in- 
strument of  Ireland,  was  a  species  of  drum.  [See  Plate 
IV.  No.  7.] 

We  find  the  Irish  so  tenacious  of  the  old  structure  of 
their  instrument  at  all  times,  that,  with  the  example  of 


*  The  barbarity  ascribed  to  Edw.  I.  A.D.  1283,  in  ordering  the  Welsh  bards  to  be  all  hanged  by  martial  law,  on  the  subjugation  of  their 
country,  appears  to  have  been  without  foundation.  The  probability  is,  that  the  monarch  proceeded  no  further  than  to  prohibit  their  prosecuting  their 
profession,  in  which  he  was  followed  by  Henry  IV.    In  Sir  R.  Hoare's  translation  of  Cambrensis  Itinerary,  this  lias  been  discussed  by  Mr.  W. 
Owen.    **  From  the  time  of  Edward  to  the  end  of  the  reign  ofElizabeth,  the  productions  of  the  bards  were  so  numerous,  (hat  Mr.  Owen  Jones,  in 
forming  a  collection  for  that  period,  has  already  transcribed  between  fifty  and  sixty  volumes  in  quarto,  and  the  work  is  not  vei  completed.  The 
of  Edward  seems  to  have  issued  to  overawe  the  bards,  for  it  does  not  appear  to  have  ever  been  put  into  execution,  ofherwise,  those  who  lived  at  the 
time,  and  in  the  following  ages,  would  have  noticed  such  an  instance  in  some  way  or  other;  the  fact,  however,  of  the  bards  assuming  fictitious  u 
under  which  they  issued  their  literary  productions,  shews  that  they  were  under  some  apprehension,  and  which  might,  probably,  have  been  produced 
by  the  said  edict  or  proclamation."    A  circumstance  may  be  added  which,  perhaps,  escaped  the  attention  of  this  writer,  "  a  multitude  of  mina 
attended  the  ceremony  of  knighting  Edward's  son  ;"  a  proof  that  the  order  had  not  been  extinguished  by  the  father.  The  fiction  ol  the  kiug's  cruelty 
has,  however,  given  us  one  of  the  finest  poems  in  our  language. 

f  Beauford's  Essay  on  the  Capability  of  the  Irish  Harp.  J  Ibid. 

§  Cruit  or  croith,  signifies  a  trembling  motion. 

||  The  crwth  used  in  Wales  was  twenty  inches  and  a  half  long,  breadth  at  bottom  nine  inches  and  a  half,  tapering  to  eight :  its  finger  board  ten 
inches  long :  it  was  more  extensive  than  the  violin,  and  capable  of  great  perfection :  its  strings  were  six,  the  two  lowei  were  often  struck  with  the 
thumb  of  the  left  hand,  and  served  as  a  bass  accompanied  to  the  notes  sounded  with  the  bow;  the  name  of  the  instrument  was,  in  course  of  time, 
corrupted  into  Crowd,  hence  Crowder,  a  player  upon  it,  and  Crowdrro  in  Hudibras.  In  the  outside  ornanreuts  of  Melrose  Abbey  in  Scotland,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  built  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  (others  say  still  earlier,  about  1 136  (a)  )  there  is  the  figure  of  a  crwth. 

(a)  Barrington. 

G 


24 


Wales  before  them,  'where  it  was  in  the  fourteenth  century 
increased  to  a  triple  row  of  strings,  and  the  number 
raised  to  ninety-seven  ;  no  alteration  was  even  attempted 
in  theirs  for  an  hundred  years  afterwards.  Robert  Nugent, 
a  jesuit,  who  resided  some  time  in  this  country,  then  im- 
proved it  by  enclosing  an  open  space  between  the  trunk 
and  upper  arm,  covering  with  a  lattice  work  of  wood  the 
sound  holes  on  the  right  side,  and  placing  a  double  row 
of  chords  on  each  side*.  This  innovation  on  the  sim- 
plicity of  our  music  does  not  appear  to  have  gained 
ground,  and  has  since  been  entirely  abandoned. 

It  is  asserted  that  the  Irish  had  the  double  row  of  strings 
from  Wales ;  Davydd  Benwynn,  one  of  their  bards,  hav- 
ing said,  about  1589,  that  his  Harp  contained  twenty- 
nine  strings  or  more  ;  but  it  has  just  been  shewn  that 
Nugent  introduced  it  in  Ireland  a  century  earlier.  Even 
the  single  rowed  Irish  Harp,  so  long  in  common  use,  con- 
tains a  number  of  strings  equal  to  those  of  Benwynn,  and 
thus  renders  the  assertion  nugatory  in  itself. 

The  most  ancient  Irish  Harp  probably  now  remaining 
is  that  which  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  Brian  Boiromhe, 
kinp-  of  Ireland,  who  was  slain  in  battle  with  the  Danes 
at  Clontarf  near  Dublin,  A.  D.  1014.  His  son,  Donogh, 
having  murdered  his  brother  Teige  in  the  year  1023,  and 
being  deposed  by  his  nephew,  retired  to  Rome,  and  car- 
ried with  him  the  crown,  Harp,  and  other  regalia  of  his 
father,  which  he  presented  to  the  pope  in  order  to  obtain 
absolution.  Adrian  the  Fourth,  surnamed  Breakspear, 
alleged  this  circumstance  as  one  of  the  principal  titles  to 
this  kingdom  in  his  bull,  transferring  it  to  Henry  II. 
These  regalia  were  deposited  in  the  Vatican  till  the  pope 
sent  the  Harp  to  Henry  VIII.  with  the  title  of  Defender 
of  the  Faith,  but  kept  the  crown,  which  was  of  massive 
gold.  Henry  gave  the  Harp  to  the  first  earl  of  Clan- 
rickard,  in  whose  family  it  remained  till  the  beginning  of 
this  century ;  when  it  came  by  a  lady  of  the  De  Burgh 
family  into  that  of  M'Mahon,  of  Clenagh,  in  the  county 
of  Clare;  after  whose  death  it  passed  into  the  possession 
of  commissioner  M'Namara,  of  Limerick.    In  1782,  it  was 


presented  to  the  right  hon.  William  Conyngham,  who  depo- 
sited it  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  it  still  remains. 

This  Harp  had  only  one  row  of  strings,  is  thirty-two 
inches  high,  and  of  extraordinary  good  workmanship. 
The  sound  board  is  of  oak,  the  pillar  and  comb  of  red 
sallow,  the  extremity  of  the  uppermost  bar,  or  comb,  in 
part  is  capped  with  silver,  extremely  well  wrought  and 
chiselled.  It  contains  a  large  chrystal  set  in  silver,  and 
under  it  was  another  stone,  now  lost.  The  buttons  or 
ornamental  knobs  at  the  sides  of  the  bar  are  of  silver.  On 
the  front  of  the  pillar  are  the  arms  chased  in  silver  of  the 
O'Briarfs  family,  the  bloody  hand  supported  by  lions  ;  on 
the  side  of  the  pillar  within  two  circles  are  the  Irish  wolf 
dogs  carved  in  the  woods.  The  string  notes  of  the  sound 
board  are  neatly  ornamented  with  escutcheons  of  brass 
carved  and  gilt.  The  sounding  holes  have  been  orna- 
mented, probably  of  silver,  as  they  have  been  the  object 
of  theft.  This  Harp  has  twenty-eight  string  screws,  and 
the  same  number  of  string  holes  to  answer  them,  con- 
sequently there  were  twenty-eight  strings.  The  bottom 
which  it  rests  upon  is  a  little  broken,  and  the  wood  very 
rotten;  the  whole  bears  evidence  of  an  expert  artist  f. 

In  Vincentio  Galilei's  Dissertation  on  ancient  and 
modern  Music,  printed  at  Florence  in  the  year  1581,  we 
have  the  following  interesting  information  J. 

"  Among  the  stringed  instruments  now  in  use  in 
Italy,  the  first  is  the  Harp,  which  is  only  an  ancient 
cithara,  so  far  altered  in  form  by  the  artificers  of  those 
days  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  additional  number,  and  the 
tension  of  the  strings,  containing  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest  note,  more  than  three  octaves.  This  most 
ancient  instrument  was  brought  to  us  from  Ireland  (as 
Dante  says§)  where  they  are  excellently  made,  and 
in  great  numbers,  the  inhabitants  of  that  island  having 
practised  on  it  for  many  and  many  ages :  nay,  they  even 
place  it  in  the  arms  of  the  kingdom,  and  paint  it  on 
their  public  buildings,  and  stamp  it  on  their  coin,  giving 
as  the  reason  their  being  descended  from  the  royal 
prophet  David.    The  Harps  which  this  people  use  are 


*  According  to  titular  archdeacon  Lynch,  of  Tuam,  who  wrote  under  the  signature  of  Gratianus  Lucius,  p.  37. 

t  Collect  de  Rib,  Hib.  No.  13.  Dr.  Ledwich  has  denied  that  this  Harp  could  have  belonged  to  Brian  Boiromhe  on  account  of  the  arms  : 
armorial  bearings,  he  asserts,  were  not  introduced  into  this  country  earlier  than  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

On  a  strict  examination  of  the  Harp  in  question,  we  are  incline/1  to  doubt  its  being  of  such  antiquity  as  the  time  of  that  Irish  monarch ; 
we  conceive  it  to  be  in  too  sound  a  state  to  have  been  made  in  that  sera,  especially  considering  the  nature  of  the  wood,  viz.  red  sallow:  even  the  sound 
board  is  of  this  species,  and  not  of  oak,  which,  by  general  Vallancey's  description,  it  should  be.  The  appearance  of  the  latter  timber  is  produced 
merely  by  a  slip  of  it  clumsily  nailed  on  the  back  of  the  sound  board  to  keep  it  together,  the  bottom  having  been  worm-eaten.  A  Harp  made 
by  Cormack  O'Kelly,  of  Ballynascreen,  in  the  county  of  Londonderry,  about  the  year  1700,  bears  so  perfect  a  resemblance  to  the  Dublin  Harp  in 
every  respect,  among  others,  in  the  figures  of  the  wolf  dogs  engraved  on  the  front  pillars  of  both,  that  it  is  no:  an  unfair  conjecture,  that  the  age  of 
the  supposed  Harp  of  the  Irish  monarch  has  been  greatly  overrated:  till  we  have  authority  to  prove  the  transmission  of  the  instrument  from  the 
pope  to  Henry  VIII.,  and  from  the  latter  to  the  earl  of  Clanrickard,  we  must  remain  of  the  opinion  we  have  expressed.  If  the  fact  of  its  having 
existed  800  years  rest  solely  on  tradition,  that  evidence  is  too  weak  where  internal  proof  is  wanting. 

J  This  most  curious  document  we  have  translated  from  Vincentio  Galilei's  Dialogue  on  ancient  and  modern  Music-  folio  edition,  Florence, 
A.  D.  1581.  Part  of  it  may  be  seen  in  Jones's  W.  Bards,  under  another  form.  The  honour  it  does  to  the  Irish  Harp  will  account  for  our  giving  a 
new  translation,  and  entering  farther  into  the  detail :  after  long  search,  it  was  found  in  the  library  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  In  the  British  Museum 
we  had  previously  met  with  the  edition  of  1602:  he  was  a  noble  Florentine,  and  father  of  the  great  Galileo  (Galilei),  and  a  proficient  in  music, 
being  an  excellent  performer  on  the  lute.  Assisted  by  signior  Giovanni,  Dr.  Burney  says,  he  was  the  first  who  composed  melodies  for  a  single  voice, 
having  modulated  the  pathetic  scene  of  count  Ugolino,  written  by  Dante,  which  he  sung  himself  sweetly  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  viol :  he  set, 
in  the  same  style,  parts  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah.    [H.  of  Music,  iv.  p.  22.] 

§  Dante  lived  about  A.  D.  1300. 


25 


considerably  larger  than  ours,  and  have  generally  the 
strings  of  brass,  and  a  few  of  steel  for  the  highest 
notes,  as  in  the  clavichord.  The  musicians  who  per- 
form on  it  keep  the  nails  of  their  fingers  long,  forming 
them  with  care  in  the  shape  of  the  quills  which  strike  the 
strings  of  the  spinnet  *.  The  number  of  the  strings  is 
fifty-four,  fifty-six,  and  even  sixty ;  though  we  do  not 
find  that  among  the  Jews,  those  of  the  prophets,  cithara 
or  psaltery,  exceeded  ten.  I  had  a  few  months  since  (by 
the  civility  of  an  Irish  gentleman)  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  one  of  their  Harps,  and  after  having  minutely 
examined  the  arrangement  of  its  strings,  I  found  it  was 
the  same  which,  with  double  the  number,  was  introduced 
into  Italy  a  few  years  ago ;  though  some  people  here 
(against  every  shadow  of  reason)  pretend  they  have  in- 
vented it,  and  endeavour  to  make  the  ignorant  believe 
that  none  but  themselves  know  how  to  tune  and  play  on 
it.  And  they  value  this  art  so  highly,  that  they  ungrate- 
fully refuse  to  teach  any  one. 

"  But  to  return  to  the  tuning  of  the  Harp,  I  will,  to 
assist  those  who  wish  for  information  on  the  subject, 
give  the  following  instructions :  I  begin  by  saying,  that 
the  compass  of  the  fifty-eight  strings  which  are  stretched 
on  it,  comprehend  four  octaves  and  one  tone,  not  major 
and  minor  as  some  have  imagined,  but,  as  I  have  said 
before,  in  the  manner  of  keyed  instruments.  To  pro- 
ceed, the  lowest  string  both  for  B  natural  and  B  flat, 
is  double  C  in  the  bass  ;  and  the  highest  is  D  in  alt. 
Wishing  now  to  tune  for  B  flat,  the  sixteen  lowest 
strings  on  the  left  hand  are  to  be  distributed  according 
to  the  common  diatonic  scale ;  and  the  fourteen  opposite  to 
them  on  the  right  hand  side  (leaving  aside,  however,  the 
unisons  of  D  and  A)  are  to  be  of  the  chromatic  scale,  con- 
formable in  its  nature  to  the  said  diatonic.  The  fifteen 
ascending  strings  that  follow  these  are  to  be  tuned  to  the 
diatonic  scale,  according  to  the  manner  of  the  sixteen 
lowest  notes  on  the  left  side ;  the  thirteen  that  follow 
next  above  the  first  sixteen  perform  the  office  of  the  low- 
est ones  on  the  right  side,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  ex- 
ample. [See  Diagram,  Plate  IV.  No.  11.]  When  it  is 
desired  to  play  on  B  natural,  the  flat  B's  of  each  diatonic 
are  to  be  taken  away  and  put  in  both  the  chromatics  in 
the  places  of  the  B  naturals,  and  these  are  to  be  put  in  the 
places  of  the  diatonic,  both  on  the  right  and  left  side." 

"  This  method  was  recommended  by  its  inventor  for 
the  convenience  and  facility  which  it  gives  to  the  fingers 
of  both  hands,  particularly  in  performing  their  diminutions 
and  extensions.  We  find  among  the  above-mentioned 
strings,  five  times  C,  5  D,  4  E,  4  F,  4  G,  4  A,  4  B  flat,  4  B 
natural,  four  unisons  of  D,  and  four  of  A,  four  diesis  of 
C,  four  diesis  of  F,  four  diesis  of  G,  and  four  flats  of  E, 
which  make  in  all  fifty-eight  strings.  There  are  besides 
wanting  for  the  perfections  of  the  various  harmonies,  the 
four  diesis  of  D,  the  four  flats  of  A,  for  which,  in  those 
airs  that  require  them,  we  make  use  of  their  unisons 
among  the  chromatic  strings,  which  unisons  greatly  in- 
crease the  facility  of  the  diminutions,  as  clearly  appears 


in  practice,  a  facility  that  is  chiefly  produced  by  the  dis- 
tribution already  explained. 

"  The  Harp  is  so  like  the  epigonium  and  simicon,  that 
we  may  reasonably  assert  that  it  is  one  of  them.  Nor  do 
I  think  that  those  who  affirm  that  the  strings  were  stretched 
in  the  same  manner  and  proportion  on  them  as  on  it  were 
far  wrong.  Now  these  instruments  were  not  introduced 
till  after  people  had  begun  to  play  in  concert,  and  this 
method  of  placing  the  strings  is  more  ancient.  If  any 
doubt  should  arise  in  your  mind  whether  the  Harp  may 
be  tuned  like  the  lute,  or  like  keyed  instruments,  the 
recollection  of  what  I  have  said  on  that  subject  will,  un- 
doubtedly, remove  it.  I  will  not  pass  over  in  silence  the 
fault  some  have  attempted  to  find  with  the  lute,  when, 
without  any  reason,  they  say  that  a  keyed  instrument  is 
more  perfect  (in  its  harmonics)  than  other  kind,  and  con- 
sequently than  the  lute.  How  far  this  is  from  the  truth 
may  be  clearly  understood  from  what  has  been  said  in  re- 
lation to  the  tuning  of  the  intervals  to  the  invention  and 
origin  of  modern  instruments:  I  say,  that  from  the  Harp, 
considering  its  resemblance  in  name,  in  form,  and  in  the 
numbers,  disposition,  and  materials  of  its  strings  (though 
the  professors  of  this  instrument  in  Italy  say  that  they 
have  invented  it),  the  harpsichord  probably  had  its  rise, 
an  instrument  from  which  were  formed  almost  all  the 
other  keyed  instruments  +. 

**  But  before  any  of  these  is  the  organ.  This  in- 
strument was  first  used  in  Greece,  and  from  thence 
passed  by  Hungary  to  the  Bavarians  in  Germany:  I  say 
this  from  having:  seen  one  in  the  cathedral  church  of 
Monaca,  the  principal  city  of  the  province,  with  pipes  of 
boxwood  all  in  one  piece,  as  high  and  wide  as  the  gener- 
ality of  our  metal  ones.  This  is  the  most  ancient  of  its 
kind  and  of  this  size  to  be  found,  not  only  in  all  Germany, 
but,  perhaps,  in  any  part  of  the  world.  Among  the 
proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  this  noble  instrument  is  an 
elegant  epigram  by  Julian  the  apostate,  nephew  of  Con- 
stantine,  emperor,  or  rather  tyrant  of  Constantinople,  who 
reigned  A.  D.  363,  and  who,  in  his  epigram,  carefully 
describes  the  organ  as  something  new  and  wonderful. 
Nor  is  there  any  difference  between  it  and  ours,  except 
in  the  materials  of  which  the  pipes  are  made,  and,  con- 
sequently, the  quality  of  the  tone ;  for  these  were  of 
brass,  says  he,  and  gave  a  very  acute  sound.  I  strongly 
believe,  from  the  many  hints  I  meet  with,  that  the  organ 
mentioned  by  Dante  was  not  exactly  similar  to  that 
now  in  use,  but  differed  from  it  in  many  things,  as  in  the 
number  and  size  of  the  pipes,  the  distance  of  the  extremes, 
the  copiousness  of  the  register,  and  several  other  par- 
ticulars which,  for  brevity,  I  forbear  relating.  As  to  the 
organ,  then,  which  Suetonius  Tranquillus  records  in  his 
Life  of  Nero;  that  mentioned  by  Vitricvius,  in  treating  on 
hydraulic  music  ;  and  that  of  which  Joscphus,  in  the  An- 
tiquities of  the  Jews,  speaks,  when  treating  of  David  ;  I 
do  not  know  that,  except  in  the  name,  it  has  any  simi- 
larity to  ours;  and  although  this  kind  of  organ  is  very 
frequently  met  with  in  ancient  writers,  speaking  of  musi- 


*  The  harpers  of  Ireland  continue  to  trim  their  nails  at  this  day  in  the  manner  described  by  Galilei  f  Kircher  held  the  same  opinion. 


26 


cal  instruments,  it  arises  from  their  having,  by  this  word, 
understood  any  one  of  those  instruments  indifferently  ;  for 
its  meaning  signifies  instrument,  and  to  ascend  on  high, 
which  is  the  nature  of  every  voice  and  sound.  This 
name  remained  at  last  attached  to  that  instrument  which 
possesses,  in  the  greatest  degree,  the  power  of  producing 
the  effect  that  its  name  signifies. 

"  I  have  said  that  among  keyed  instruments  the 
organ  was  the  first  discovered  ;  the  strings  of  the  rest, 
which  are  of  brass  or  steel,  being  of  modern  invention,  of 
which  there  is  not  any  record  among  the  ancient  Greeks 
or  Latins.  And  when  I  said  that  the  Irish  had  them  in 
their  Harps^  I  did  not  mean  that  they  used  them  before 
they  were  discovered  by  their  inventor  ;  before  that  they 
made  use  of  strings  of  gut.  I  now,  however,  come  to 
speak  of  those  wind  instruments,  to  the  sound  of  which, 
not  only  were  tragedies,  comedies,  and  satires  recited,  as 
I  have  said  before,  but  the  ancients  practised  ever)'  species 
of  dancing,  of  which  there  were  many  kinds." 

We  are  now  to  advert  to  the  beautiful  instrument  that 
forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  volume. 

The  remaining  fragments  of  this  Harp  consist  of  the 
most  important  parts,  the  harmonic  curve,  or  pin-board, 
and  the  fore  arm  ;  the  sound-board  alone  being  lost.  It 
has  long  been  in  the  family  of  Noah  Dal  way,  Esq.  of 
Bellahill,  near  Carrickfergus,  and  appears,  by  notices 
engraved  on  it,  to  have  been  made  for  the  house  of 
Fitzgerald,  viz.  for  John  M'Edmond  Fitzgerald,  of 
Cluain*,  whose  arms  are  handsomely  chased  on  the  fiont 
of  the  fore-pillar,  surmounted  bv  the  arms  of  England. 
Every  part  of  the  remaining  fragments  is  covered  with  in- 
scriptions in  Latin  and  in  the  Irish  character;  the  former 
containing  mottos,  and  the  name  of  the  maker  [Donatus 
FiliusThadei] ;  the  latter  the  year  it  was  made  in,A.D.  1621, 
and  the  servants  names  of  the  household,  &c.  According 
to  an  old  custom,  the  instrument  is  supposed  to  be  ani- 
mated ;  and,  among  other  matters,  informs  us  of  the  names 
of  two  harpers  who  had  produced  the  finest  music  on  it ; 
these  were,  it  seems,  Giolla  Patrick  M'Credanand  Diarmad  . 
M'Credanf. 

By  the  pins  which  remain  almost  entire,  it  is  found  to 
have  contained  in  the  row  fortv-five  strings,  besides  seven 
in  the  centre,  probably  for  unisons  to  others,  making  in 
all  fifty-two,  and  exceeding  the  common  Irish  Harp  by 
twenty-two  strings.  In  consequence  of  the  sound-board 
being  lost,  different  attempts  to  ascertain  its  scale  have 
been  unsuccessful.  It  contained  twenty-four  strings  more 
than  the  noted  Harp,  called  Brian  BoiromheV,  and,  in 


point  of  workmanship,  is  beyond  comparison  superior  to 
it,  both  for  the  elegance  of  its  crowded  ornaments,  and 
for  the  general  execution  of  those  parts  on  which  the  cor- 
rectness of  a  musical  instrument  depends.  The  opposite 
side  is  equally  beautiful  with  that  of  which  the  delineation 
is  given  ;  the  fore-pillar  appears  to  be  of  sallow,  the  har- 
monic curve  of  yew. 

The  instrument,  in  truth,  deserves  the  epithet  claimed, 
by  the  inscription,  on  itself — "  Ego  sum  Regina  Citha- 
rarum" 

measurement. 

(Accurately  ascertained  by  the  conformation  of  the 
remaining  parts.) 

Feet.  Ins. 

Bottom  of  sound-board  to  extremity  of  harmonic 

curve,  where  it  joins  the  fore-pillar      .       .3  10 
Length  of  sound-board  in  the  clear     .       .       .2  10 
Distance  from  sound-board  to  fore-pillar  at  great- 
est width      .       .       .       .       .       .  .13 

Longest  string    .       .       .       .       .       .  .34 

Shortest  0  2i 

INSCRIPTIONS 

in  the  Irish  language  ;  many  more  having  probably  been 
contained  on  the  sound-board %. 

"  Giolla  fphattruig  mban  cridain  do  ba  fearr  ceoil 
"  oirrfidi  dhamh  I  da  f  haighin,  ni  bufear  is  edo  bheag 
"  agus  diarmaid  mhaca  cridain,  maille  reis  diasdo  Tsal- 
'*  lainebh  glana  do  bhi  agamsa  do  mealmhaen. 

"  Is  iad  so  dobfheidhin  anaigh,  agseain  mhic  eamaind 
"  gearailt,  agcluain,  antan  do  ronadh  misi  is  e  do  bo 
M  sdinbhardhan,  Seumus  Mhic  Muiris,  agus  Seumus  ruise, 
"  ba  maras  galtighe,  agus  muiris  Mhic  Tumais,  agus  muiris 
"  Mhic  Eamhain,  ba  Giemanaigh  dheisgcreideacha  iad  so 
"  uile,  do  Philip  Mhic  Taidhg  ba  Tailiur  aiT,  Donachadh 
"  Mhic  Taidhg  na  sar  do  ron. 

"  Breanach,  do  ba  fadhmandach,  agus  diarmaid  mhic 
"  Seain  buitileir  fiona,  agus  seam  rudhan  buitileir  na 
"  beorach,  agus  Pilip  Mhic  Domhnall  cocaire,  an.  ano. 
"  do.  1621. 

"  Taidhg  o  ruairc  ba  seomradoir  an 
"  agus  gach  ean  ndiabh  so  do  ndearna  dia  grasa  orta 
11  soinuile." 


*  By  Cluain,  Cloyne  is  supposed  to  be  understood :  a  boar  is  the  crest,  which  is  that  of  one  branch  of  the  family. 

t  In  the  enumeration  of  the  servants  of  Fitzgerald,  we  find  James  M'Morris,  steward,  James  Ross,  marshal  of  the  household,  M  orris  M'Thomas 
and  Morris  If  'Edmond,  running  footmen,  Philip  M'Teague,  tat/lor,  Donachadh  M'Teague,  distributor  of  provisions,  Brcnnach,  superintrndant, 
Diarmad  M'Seain,  wine  hitler,  John  Ryan,  leer  butler,  Philip  M'Donnel,  cook,  and  Teague  O'Ruairk,  chamberlain. 

About  tenor  eleven  years  ago  a  curious  Harp  was  fouud  in  the  county  of  Limerick,  on  the  estate  of  Sir  Richard  Harte,  by  whom  it  was  given 
to  the  late  Dr.  O'Halloran.  On  the  death  of  that  gentleman  it  was  thrown  into  a  lumber  room,  and  thence  removed  by  a  cook,  who  consigned  it 
to  the  flames;  its  exact  figure  we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  ;  several  gentlemen  who  saw  it,  declare  that  it  totally  differed  in  construction  from 
the  instrument  now  known  in  Ireland;  that  it  was  smaller  in  size,  and  still  retained  three  metal  strings,  with  pins  for  several  others.  It  was  raised 
by  labourers  at  the  depth  of  twelve  spits,  or  spadings,  under  the  earth  in  Coolness  Moss,  near  Newcastle,  between  Limerick  and  Killarney.  It  seems 
extraordinary  that  any  vestige  of  metal  strings,  or  pins,  should  have  remained  notwithstanding  the  qualities  attributed  to  Moss  water. 

X  We  have  taken  the  liberty  to  add  the  sound-board  which  appears  in  the  engraving,  in  order  to  perfect  the  figure  of  the  instrument. 


27 


A  flow  of  materials  having  led  beyond  the  intended 
limits  of  this  treatise,  the  remainder  must  be  reserved  for 
the  succeeding  volume*.  We  shall  now  conclude  with 
the  following  general  observations. 

In  the  course  of  our  enquiry,  indications  have  re- 
peatedly occurred  in  the  works  of  disinterested  annalists 
that  the  Highland  Scots  and  ancient  Britons,  at  least, 
are  indebted  to  Ireland  for  their  excellence  in  the  musical 
art.  On  such  testimonies  we  may  rely,  since  these  au- 
thors were  natives  of  the  countries  whose  obligations  they 
confess. 

In  higher  matters,  Ireland  may  claim  the  respect  of 
enlightened  times,  by  having  fed  the  glimmering  lamp  of 
religion  and  science  in  the  deepest  gloom  of  Gothic  dark- 
ness. When  Europe  had  sunk  apparently  to  rise  no  more  ; 
when  the  potentatef  and  the  pontiff  were  alike  incapable 
of  subscribing  their  names  to  their  own  edicts  and  bulls; 
when  the  northern  swarms  were  blighting  the  germs  of 
knowledge  throughout  the  world;  the  "  land  of  saints" 
was  one  of  the  few  forlorn  hopes  among  the  nations;  it 
afforded  an  asylum  to  the  pious  of  every  quarter.  "  The 
English  and  Gaulish,"  says  venerable  Bede,  "  made  Ire- 
land, as  it  were,  both  the  university  and  monastery  for 
studying  of  learning  and  divine  contemplation  ;"  as  the  life 
of  Gildas  and  other  testimonies  discover. 

To  such  sanctuaries  we  owe  the  revival  of  letters,  and 


the  innumerable  blessings  which  followed  in  their  train. 
Doctor  Johnson's  fine  remark  on  the  little  island  of  Ion  a, 
applies  with  great  force  to  this  country: — "  Far  from  me, 
and  my  friends,  be  such  frigid  philosophy,  as  may  enable 
us  to  walk  unmoved  over  any  ground  that  has  been  con- 
secrated by  wisdom,  learning,  or  virtue.  Little  is  that 
man  to  be  envied  whose  patriotism  would  not  gain  force 
upon  the  plains  of  Marathan,  or  whose  piety  would  not 
grow  warmer  among  the  ruins  of  Ion  a." 

"  The  tale  of  Troy  divine"  was  sung  by  the  earliest 
and  greatest  of  poets,  and  has  been  repeated  in  every  suc- 
ceeding age;  while  Ireland  has  had  "  few  so  poor  to  do 
her  reverence"  within  her  emerald  isle.  Transient  hints 
of  her  former  situation  she  is  obliged  to  collect  from  the 
mouldering  histories  of  other  states.  Her  early  annals  are 
confounded  with  fable  ;  but  the  transactions  of  her  middle 
ages  are  well  deserving  of  a  more  eminent  historian  than 
they  have  yet  found.  For,  to  apply  the  elegant  prose  of 
Milton,  "  By  this  time,  like  one  who  had  set  out  on  his 
way  by  night  and  travelled  through  a  region  of  smooth  or 
idle  dreams,  our  history  now  arrives  on  the  confines  where 
daylight  and  truth  meet  us  with  a  clear  dawn,  represent- 
ing to  our  view,  though  at  a  far  distance,  true  colours  and 
shapes;};." 

It  is  a  debt  which  we  owe  to  our  country  and  to  truth, 
to  search  the  records  of  other  days,  and  to  oppose  the 


*  The  accurate  and  elegant  drawings  from  which  the  engraving  of  the  frontispiece  and  the  other  plates  in  this  volume  have  been  taken,  were 
made  by  John  M'Cracken,  Esq.  of  Belfast,  and  presented  by  him  to  the  Editor  of  this  work. 

Plate  IV.  No.  1.  is  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Arthur  O'Neill,  the  most  celebrated  Irish  harper  now  living,  not  more  distinguished  for  his  musical  skill 
than  for  his  general  knowledge  of  Irish  history. 

Plate  IV.  No.  5.  is  a  representation  of  one  of  four  brass  trumpets,  found  twelve  years  ago  eleven  feet  under  the  surface  of  a  moss  on  the  borders  of 
a  small  lake,  called  Loughuashade,  on  the  lands  of  Mr.  Pooler,  near  Armagh.  They  were  briefly  noticed  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  Dec.  21,  1800,  and  are  now  more  particularly  described.  The  author  of  this  work  saw  one  of  them  ;  it  is  made  of  brass,  and  nearly  of 
semicircular  form  ;  from  the  extremity  of  the  small  to  the  wide  end,  it  measures  four  feet,  circumference  of  the  sweep  six,  diameter  of  small  end  one 
inch,  of  large  end  three  inches  three-quarters ;  and  the  brass  is  so  thin,  that  the  trumpet  weighs  only  two  pounds  three-quarters.  It  seems  to  have 
been  made  before  the  use  of  solder,  as  its  edges  are  united  by  a  slip  of  brass  that  extends  up  inside  of  the  instrument,  to  which  it  is  fastened  by  a 
great  number  of  minute  rivets  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  asunder,  and  which  renders  it  as  perfectly  air-tight  as  if  it  were  soldered. 

It  has  been  erroneously  alleged  that  the  trumpets  were  gilt,  but,  on  examination,  it  was  found  that  the  colour  mistaken  for  gilding,  is  in  the 
substance  of  the  metal  itself,  which  assumes  a  golden  appearance,  but  on  being  scraped,  smells  like  brass.  The  trumpet  must  have  had  some  sup- 
port, as  it  could  not,  on  account  of  its  length,  be  managed  otherwise.  In  Montfaucon's  Antiquities  there  is  a  drawing  of  one  of  the  same  form,  with 
a  chain  which  runs  across  the  arch,  the  use  of  which  was  probably  to  support  it  against  the  breast  of  the  trumpeter,  so  as  the  small  end  could  be 
brought  round  to  the  mouth. 

One  of  the  four  trumpets  was  stolen  and  cut  up  for  old  metal ;  another  was  given  to  general  Alexander  Campbell  and  sent  to  Scotland  ;  the  third 
is  in  possession  of  Mr.  Pooler,  in  whose  grounds  they  were  dug  up;  and  the  fourth  is  become  the  property  of  a  gentleman  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Armagh.    No  mouth  pieces  were  found  with  them. 

Round  the  base  of  a  hill  which  immediately  rises  from  the  above-mentioned  lake  are  the  remains  of  a  rude  ditch,  nearly  an  English  mile  in  cir- 
cumference, apparently  intended  for  a  military  entrenchment ;  and  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  is  a  circular  mound  of  earth,  called  Navan  fort.  From 
that  circumstance,  it  may  be  conjectured  that  the  trumpets  were  of  Danish  construction,  perhaps  in  the  ninth  century,  in  the  time  of  the  war  w.i^ed 
by  the  Danes  against  Neill  Calne-,  monarch  of  Ireland,  and  Murchad,  prince  of  Aileagh.or  Ely  (a).  There  is  a  tradition  in  the  country,  that  a  battle 
was  fought  near  the  place,  and  that  a  king  of  Ulster  had  a  palace  in  the  neighbourhood,  which  some  will  suppose  to  have  been  that  of  Eamania. 

Large  brass  trumpets  have  been  before  found  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Among  the  papers  of  Mr.  Lluvd,  the  antiquarian,  found  in  1706\ 
there  is  a  drawing  of  a  brazen  trumpet,  raised  at  Bellinure  in  the  county  of  Antrim,  which  that  gentleman  saw  when  in  Ireland,  about  liiSO  :  it 
was  one  of  the  three  found  there,  each  of  which  was  two  feet  long,  of  a  curved  shape. 

+  Even  Charlemagne,  in  the  eighth  century,  could  not  write  his  own  name,  and  did  not  attend  to  literature  till  he  was  forty  years  of  age. 

t  A  resemblance  may  be  traced  between  the  prose  passage  of  the  poet  and  his  Paradise  Lost. 

"  Now  at  last,  the  sacred  influence 

"  Of  light  appears;  and  from  the  walls  of  heaven, 

"  Shoots  far  into  the  bosom  of  dim  night 

"  A  glimmering  dawn." 

(a)  According  to  Sampson's  statistical  account  of  the  county  of  Londonderry,  ruins  of  that  prince's  castle  are  Mil!  vkMt  k*«H  Hie  city  of  Londonderry 
and  Fauehan. 

H 


ravages  of  time.  The  veneration  in  which  we  have  seen 
the  music  ofIreland  heldby  our  precursors,  and  the  re- 
spect it  has  found  for  "many  and  many  centuries"*  from 
foreign  nations,  should  excite  corresponding  feelings  in 
the  present  age.  Shall  we  suffer  it  to  perish  in  our  hands, 
perhaps  in  the  last  age  in  which  a  ray  of  light  can  be 
reflected  on  the  subject  ?  In  paying  it  regard,  we  are 
not  merely  indulging  national  pride,  we  are  tracing  the 


progress  of  the  human  mind,  and  restoring  a  page  in  the 
history  of  man. 

The  lines  with  which  this  treatise  closes  are  extracted 
from  a  poem  on  the  Giants  Causeway.  The  passage 
contains  reflections  excited  in  the  mind  of  a  poet  by  the 
contemplation  of  scenes  that  were  once  the  favourite 
haunts  of  the  bards  f. 


28 


"  Mute !  mute  the  Harp !  and  lost  the  magic  art 

Which  roused  to  rapture  each  Milesian  heart ! 

In  cold  and  rust  the  lifeless  strings  decay, 

And  all  their  soul  of  song  has  died  away : 

Fallen  is  the  bard,  his  glory  prostrate  lies, 

Crush'd  in  the  wreck  of  years  no  more  to  rise. 

Oft  on  these  shores  they  bade  the  youth  advance 

With  measured  footstep  to  the  martial  dance ; 

Or  with  a  solemn,  slow,  majestic  tread, 

The  holy  circuit  of  the  round-tower  led  : 

Or  when  the  hills  with  sacred  splendour  bright 

Hail'd  every  star,  and  bless'd  the  God  of  light, 

In  loftier  tone  their  hallow'd  numbers  flow'd, 

And  poured  to  Heaven  the  spirit-breathing  ode. 

Love,  pity,  rapture,  all  the  world  of  soul 

Dwelt  in  their  touch,  and  owned  their  bland  controul. 

Then  first  in  glory  as  in  worth  they  moved, 

By  nations  honoured,  and  by  monarchs  loved. 

E'en  kings  themselves  have  mixed  the  bards  among, 

Swept  the  bold  Harp,  and  claimed  renown  in  song." 


*  Vincentio  Galilei. 

f  The  work  from  which  these  lines  are  taken  is  preparing  for  the  press  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Drummond,  of  Mount  Collyer  near  Belfast,  author  of 
"  Trafalgar,"  and  of  a  translation  of  the  first  book  of  Lucretius. 

P.  S.  As  this  treatise  pretends  not  to  the  correctness  of  a  regular  work,  and  is  intended  for  popular  use,  the  writer  has  ventured  to  intersperse 
incidents,  curious  in  themselves,  though  not  immediately  connected  with  the  general  subject.  In  the  free  use  which  he  has  made  of  authorities, 
ancient  and  modern,  instead  of  presuming  to  remodel  their  forms,  he  has  generally  preferred  giving  the  passages  in  the  language  of  their  authors. 


Ctjc  <$nu  of  tfre  ffwft  Pact. 


VOL.  I. 

INDEX  TO  THE  AIRS. 


ENGLISH  NAMES  OF  THE  AIRS. 


IRISH  NAMES  OF  THE  AIRS. 


ALPHABETICALLY  ARRANGED. 


A  Lesson  for  the  Harp.  „  

Beside  a  Rath  

Bridget  O'Neil  

Bridget  Cruise  

Bumper  Squire  Jones  

Burns's  March  

Carolan's  Cap  , 

Carolan's  Concerto    , 

Colonel  O'Hara   «  

Colonel  Irwin  

Dennis,  don't  be  threatening   

Dermot  O'Dowd  

Fair  Molly  

Hulet's  Health  

I'll  follow  you  over  the  Mountain   

"  Irish  Lullaby  

1  will  be  taken  

I  would  rather  than  Ireland  

Letitia  Burke   

Limerick's  Lamentation  

Loftus  Jones  

Lord  Mayo  

Love  be  near  me  

Madam  Birmingham  

M'Fatlane's  Lamentation  

Madam  Judge  

Mild  Mable  O'Kelly  

Morgan  Magan   

Nancy  of  the  branching  Tresses  

O  Southern  Breeze  .  

O'Neil's  Cavalcade  

O'Rourke's  Feast  , 

Paddy  M'Rory  

Peggy  Ban  

Planxty  Birmingham  

— —  Connor  

Irwin  

— —  Thomas  M*  Judge   

 Reilly  

—  Maguire   

— —  Sudley   •  

 1 —  Judge  

Rory  O'Moor,  King  of  Leix's  march  

Rose  Dillon  

Rusty  Daniel.  . . .  

That  is  the  road  she  went  

The  Butterfly   

—  beauteous  fair  Molly  •  

■      Bundle  of  Rushes  •  •  •  . .  

—  captivating  Youth  .......  

—  Cavalcade  of  the  Boyne  

—  i    Charming  fair  Eily. . . . . . . . .  .V.  

— —  Dawning  of  the  Day   .7  

Death  Song.  •••»...  .7.  m7  •  »•#•«•• .................  ^. . . 


Page 
63 

49 

63 
31 

26 
6 
24 
33 
54 

39 
41 
24 
30 
7 
25 
24 
72 

29 

55 

55 

41 

20 

33 

70 

14 
62 
48 
71 
45 
37 
32 

8 
46 
56 
70 
13 

7 
47 
19 
34 
68 
62 
32 
18 

69 
40 
46 
30 

39 
11 
40 
1 

53 
25 


Page 

A  Dhonachadh  na  hi  fogarthach   41 

A  Ghaoithe  an  ndeas   37 

A  Ghiolladh  na  sgriobe   jg 

A  Gradh  luighe  lamh  Horn   33 

An  Cota  Caol    17 

Anna  na  Geraoilh    45 

An  Seann  Truicha   67 

An  thseann  bheann  bhocht   31 

A  phlur  na  maighdion   23 

Barend  Chearbhulain   24 

Beidk  mise  la  gabhail   72 

Beartin  luachra    39 

Bhateur  buidhe  agas  an  Sionnack   1 9 

Bhfear  Horn  na  Eire    29 

Bille  buadhach   71 

Blaith  na  sead    64 

Brighid  Cruise   31 

Brighid  inion  Neill   63 

Breed  na  bhearlaidgh   It 

Cailin  beog  chruite  na  mbo   59 

Caiteach  roin   54 

Ciosogach  og   72 

Comhshinnin  Chearbhulain   33 

Cois  leasa   49 

Coilte  glasa  an  Triugha   42 

Corneul  Irbhin   39 

Corneul  ua  Hara   54 

Cronannabann   30 

Cumha  Mhac Parlain.  •  •  •   14 

Diarmaid  ua  Duda   24 

Domhnal  Meirigeach   69 

Drolien   25 

Eilighe  Gheall  chiun    1 

Eirghidhe  an  Lae   53 

Feilican   46 

Gear  an  Buidhe   12 

Im  bo  agas  samha  bo   6 

Is  casgaire  ar  loch   41 

Is  im  bo  agas  Eiriu   24 

Leanfadh  me  thar  an  thsliabh  thu   M 

Lettighe  Burca   55 

Long  a  chuagh  a  mugha   K> 

Loftus  Jones   41 

Maille  dheas  ban   30 

Malli  bhan   SO 

Mairgireud  Bhan   56 

Mabla  sheimh  ini  cheallaidh   48 

Maghistreas  ini  ceoris   70 

Maghistreas  ini  Bhreithamhain  •   6* 

Marcaigheacht  iu  Neill   3* 

Mareaigheacht  in  Boinnc   40 

Marblma  no  cumba   95 

Marlhna  no  Luimneach   54 

Murach  Mhac  Ceanna   •  •  •  •   71 


INDEX  TO  THE  AIRS. 


ENGLISH  NAMES  OF  THE  AIRS.  IRISH  NAMES  OF  THE  AIRS. 


ALPHABETICALLY  ARRANGED. 


Page 


The  Dissipated  Youth    If 

—  Fisherman   48 

— —  Green  Woods  of  Truigha   . ...  42 

 Health  of  the  Cup   47 

 Humming  of  the  Ban  ,   30 

—  Market  Slake   fig 

Mock  Feast   47 

 Old  Truigha    67 

— —  Old  Woman    31 

■  Pleasure  of  Harbouts   ,   68 

 Pretty  Girl  milking  the  Cow   69 

— -  Ship  that  was  lost   13 

1  Slender  Coat   17 

■  ■      Song  of  Sorrow    5 

Victorious  Tree   71 

— -  Winnowing  Sheet   64 

■  ■     W  ren   ,   25 

— —  Flower  of  Virgins   23 

Thou  blooming  Treasure   64 

Yellow  Horse    12 

— —  Wal  and  the  Fox   19 

Young  Bridget   72 

— —  Cusac    72 


P.i^c 


Muiris  na  ccuan   lis 

Oganaighe  Dig   11 

Paidin  Mliuc  Buairidhe   4b' 

Pleidh  raca  na  Jones   20 

Pieidh  raca  na  Kuarcach   8 

Pleidh  raca  na  mhagadh    47 

Plangstigh  Mhuc  Uibhir    34 

Plangstigh  Baighle   19 

Plangstigh  Ei  win   7 

Plangstigh  Connor   13 

Plangitiglt  ini  Ceoris   70 

Plangstigh  Sudltleidh   ()8 

Plangstign  im  Bhreithumhain   62 

Plangstigh  Tumais  Mliac  a  lihreithamhaiit   47 

Purth  Clurseach   63 

liaise  Diotun   18 

Ruuirtdlte  uu  Mordha   32 

Siud  e  siar  an  rod    40 

Slainte  breag  huilet   7 

Stumte  an  Chupuin   47 

Staca  an  Mharaga   69 

Tiagharna  Mhaighe  eo   20 

U  lie  an  dulh  oh   6 


INDEX  TO  THE  POETRY. 


FIRST  LINE  OF  EACH  SONG.  NAMES  OF  THE  AUTHORS. 

Page 

A  Chieftain  to  the  Highlands  bound  Thomas  Campbell,  Esq   3 

•  Adieu,  my  native  Wilds,  adieu  Miss  Bal/our   4 

•  Arise  from  thy  Slumbers!  oh,  fairest  of  Maids   The  same   66 

•  Branch  of  the  sweet  and  early  Rose  Dr.  Drennan    22 

•  Charm'd  by  the  Lustre  of  thine  Eyes   Miss  Balfour   10 

•  Far  hence  to  hail  a  Chief  1  go   The  same   35 

•  Full  high  in  Kilbride  is  the  Grass  seen  to  wave  The  same     15 

Inspiring  Fount  of  cheering  Wine  Anonymous  [vide  Walker's  Irish  Bards']   81 

•  In  Ringlets  curl'd  thy  Tresses  flow   Miss  Balfour   43 

O'Rourke's  noble  Fare  will  ne'er  be  forgot  I  Dean  Swijl   y 

•  O  Southern  Breeze  !  thy  nectar  Breath  John  Brown,  Esq   3fi 

•  O  lov'd  Maid  of  Broka !  each  Fair  One  excelling  Hector  Alacneill,  Esq   28 

Too  late  I  staid ;  forgive  the  Crime.  The  Honourable  IV.  K.  Spencer   l6 

•  The  Moon  calmly  sleeps  on  the  Ocean  Miss  Balfour   58 

•  The  Blush  of  Moru  at  length  appears                                              The  same   52 

There  came  to  the  Beach  a  poor  Exile  of  Erin   Thomas  Campbell,  Esq   65 

•  The  Dew  each  trembling  Leaf  inwreath'd  Miss  Balfour   44 

To  the  Battle,  Men  of  Erin  Thomas  Campbell,  Esq   51 

'Twas  the  Hour  when  Rites  unholy  The  same   57 

Ye  good  Fellows  all  Baron  Dawson   S7 


N.  B.  The  Songs  distinguished  by  an  asterism  (•),  sue  versified  solely  for  this  work  from  literal  translations  of  the  original  Irish,  by  the  leireral 
persons  whose  names  are  affixed  to  them. 


/'/.// 7 


ElLTGHE  OffF.ArX    (  II  U  N 


1  HI'.  I  II  \\:  S\\\(.  FAIR  I.II.V. 


'^1.1  EGHETTO 


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A     Chieftain  to     the    highlands  bound  Crii 


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>oatman  do  not  tarry 


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 «*-  ,  — a"  ■  ^    ■  m  :  m  1 


— .   — .  _  ^  _       9  »   0.  0—  0. 

t  bonny  brkk-  When  they  haw  slain  her  Co-.wt 


m   •     m     w  •  m     9  • 


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3 


A  CHIEFTAIN  TO  THE  HIGHLANDS  BOUND. 


BY  THO.  CAMPBELL,  ESQ. 


Air — "  The  charming  fair  Eily." 


A  chieftain  to  the  Highlands  bound, 

Cries,  "  Boatman,  do  not  tarry! 
"And  I'll  give  thee  a  silver  pound, 

"  To  row  us  o'er  the  ferry." 
"  Now  who  be  ye  would  cross  Lochgyle, 

"  This  dark  and  stormy  water?" 
"  Oh  !  I'm  the  chief  of  Ulva's  isle, 

"  And  this  Lord  Ullin's  daughter. 


By  this  the  storm  grew  loud  apace, 

The  water-wraith  was  shrieking, 
And  in  the  scowl  of  Heav'n  each  face 

Grew  dark  as  they  were  speaking : 
But  still  as  wilder  blew  the  wind, 

And  as  the  night  grew  drearer, 
Adown  the  Glen  rode  armed  men, 

Their  trampling  sounded  nearer. 


"  And  fast  before  her  father's  men 

"  Three  days  we've  fled  together, 
<c  For  should  he  find  us  in  the  Glen, 

"  My  blood  would  stain  the  heather; 
"  His  horsemen  hard  behind  us  ride, 

"  Should  they  our  steps  discover, 
<£  Then  who  will  cheer  my  bonny  bride, 

"  When  they  have  slain  her  lover?" 

Outspoke  the  hardy  highland  wight; 

"  I'll  go,  my  chief,  I'm  ready, 
w  It  is  not  for  your  silver  bright 

"  But  for  your  winsome  lady, 
"  And  by  my  word  the  bonny  bird 

"  In  danger  shall  not  tarry, 
"  So,  though  the  waves  are  raging  white, 

"  I'll  row  you  o'er  the  ferry." 


4  Oh,  haste  thee,  haste!"  the  lady  cries, 

"  Though  tempests  round  us  gather, 
**  I'll  meet  the  raging  of  the  skies, 

f*  But  not  an  angry  father  !" 
The  boat  has  left  a  stormy  land, 

A  stormy  sea  before  her, 
When,  Oh  !  too  strong  for  human  hand, 

The  tempest  gather'd  o'er  her. 

And  still  they  row'd  amidst  the  roar 

Of  waters  fast  prevailing, 
Lord  Ullin  reach'd  that  fatal  shore, 

His  wrath  was  chang'd  to  wailing. 
For  sore  dismav'd,  through  storm  and  shade 

His  child  he  did  discover, 
One  lovely  hand  she  stretch'd  for  aid, 

And  one  was  round  her  lover. 


"  Come  back,  come  back !"  he  cried  in  grief, 

"  Across  this  raging  water, 
•«  And  I'll  forgive  your  highland  chief, 

M  My  daughter!  Oh,  my  daughter!" 
'Twas  vain  :  the  loud  waves  lash'd  the  shore. 

Return  or  aid  preventing, 
The  waters  wild  went  o'er  his  child, 

And  he  was  left  lamenting. 


ADIEU!  MY  NATIVE  WILDS,  ADIEU! 


FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR, 


Adieu  !  my  native  wilds,  adieu  ! 

In  Spring's  green  robe  array'd, 
Where  days  of  bliss  like  moments  flew 

Beneath  the  woodland  shade. 
Now  banish'd  from  sweet  Erin's  shore, 

O'er  trackless  seas  forlorn  I  go, 
In  distant  climates  to  deplore 

My  Ulican  dubh,  Oh! 


Our  flame  from  every  eye  to  hide 

With  anxious  care  we  strove, 
For  stately  was  her  father's  pride, 

And  I  had  nought  but  love. 
Oh  !  woe  is  me  in  evil  hour 

That  secret  love  he  came  to  know, 
And  I  must  fly  to  shun  his  power, 

My  Ulican  dubh,  Oh ! 


Oh!  how  shall  I  resolve  to  part 

Our  well  known  tree  beneath ! 
Oh !  how  controul  my  bursting  heart, 

A  last  farewell  to  breathe ! 
And  oft,  though  far  remote  we  dwell, 

And  boundless  floods  between  us  flow, 
I'll  muse  upon  our  last  farewell, 

My  Ulican  dubh,  Oh! 


I'j.nw  in  mi  ore, 


AM)  AXT  IX  c 


(V 


The  son*,  of  sorrow. 


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A-dieumy  native  wilds   adieu  In  KprmgBgrfeen  n.lyai 


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-  rayd       Where  days  of  bliss  like  moments  flew  Ee-neath  the  woodland       shade  N  m 


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-  HUtiETS  HEALTH 


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101  P, 

Plan-cstioh  ERivrsr.  plantkty  trwiw 


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O    ROmfKl-IS  1'KAST. 


A  X  I)  A  K  T  E 


*^        ^  Rourkes  noble' feast  will  neer  be  to  r^.  got  By  those Txho  wereTnere  or  thosey iio^erenot  His  revels  tokeen  w 

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•    ,     ♦  «  »- 


hundred  at 


least  and  a  msUlder  our  rap  Crow    arper strikeup Irat  first  bv  your  favor  Boy  give  lis  a  <  up  /  irl 


*J  A:..  V,  


K  N  Jv\  Kg 


thisha-  some  savor  O  Rourio&joUy  hoys  rieerdreaiwtoftht  matter  Till  rousd  by  the  noise  and  musical  clatter 'Die) 


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lot    burstwivlit  uirstamuinir 


<*A    rmrcy   the  groundclid  not    burst  with  tndr  stamping^ 


9 


O'ROURKE'S  NOBLE  FARE  WILL  NE'ER  BE  FORGOT. 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  DEAN  SWIFT. 


O'Rourke's  noble  fare  will  ne'er  be  forgot 

By  those  who  were  there,  or  those  who  were  not; 

His  revels  to  keep,  we  sup  and  we  dine 

On  seven  score  sheep,  fat  bullocks,  and  swine; 

TJsquebagh  to  our  feast  in  pails  is  brought  up 

A  hundred  at  least,  and  a  madder  our  cup. 

Come,  harper,  strike  up!  but  first,  by  your  favour, 
Boy,  give  us  a  cup ! — Ah,  this  has  some  savour ! 
O'Rourke's  jolly  boys  ne'er  dreamt  of  the  matter, 
Till  rous'd  by  the  noise  and  musical  clatter; 
They  dance  in  a  round,  cutting  capers  and  ramping, 
A  mercy  the  ground  did  not  burst  with  their  stamping. 


Bring  straw  for  our  bed,  shake  it  down  to  the  feet, 
Then  over  us  spread  the  winnowing  sheet; 
To  shew  I  don't  flinch,  fill  the  bowl  up  again, 
Then  give  us  a  pinch  of  your  sneeshin  a  yean. 
Good  Lord,  what  a  sight !  after  all  their  good  cheer 
For  people  to  fight  in  the  midst  of  their  beer ! 

You  churl,  I  maintain,  my  father  built  Lusk, 
The  castle  of  Slane,  and  Carrick  Drumrusk. 
The  Earl  of  Kildare,  and  Moynalta  his  brother, 
As  great  as  they  are,  I  was  nurs'd  by  their  mother: 
Ask  that  of  old  madam,  she'll  tell  you  who's  who 
As  far  up  as  Adam,  she  knows  it  is  true. 


10 


CHARMED  BY  THE  LUSTRE  OF  THINE  EYES. 


FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 


BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


Charmed  by  the  lustre  of  thine  eyes, 
For  thee  each  fair  enamour'd  sighs, 
And  drooping  at  the  festive  board, 
My  heart  still  owns  thee  for  its  lord. 


That  heart  confided  in  thy  smiles 
Love  smit,  yet  taught  not  lover's  wiles, 
And  hail'd  thee  in  life's  morning  hour, 
Its  early  star,  its  opening  flower. 


O.-^yiuvi^c  Or-,. 

 J' J u :  CAP  TIVATIXC  YOUTH 


II 


L  A  RGH ETTO 


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15 


FULL  HIGH  IN  KILBRIDE  IS  THE  GRASS  SEEN  TO  WAVE. 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


Full  high  in  Kilbride  is  the  grass  seen  to  wave, 
That  shadows,  oh,  generous  Laughlin !  thy  grave ; 
And  oft,  gallant  chief !  is  its  verdure  renew'd, 
By  the  tears  of  the  widow  and  orphan  bedew'd. 

Where  Boyne's  silver  tide  sweetly  murmuring  flows, 
The  rich  yellow  harvest  luxuriantly  grows ; 
But  never  again  shall  the  stranger  repair 
The  fruits  it  shall  yield  in  thy  mansion  to  share. 


The  tones  of  the  harp  in  that  mansion  have  ceas'd, 
No  more  it  resounds  with  the  mirth  of  the  feast, 
But  each  gentle  bosom  for  thee  breathes  a  sigh, 
And  tears  of  affection  obscure  each  bright  eye. 

No  trophies  of  victory  point  to  thy  tomb, 
No  laurels  are  planted  around  it  to  bloom, 
But  long  shall  thy  memory  be  dear  to  each  breast, 
While  thy  spirit  on  high  is  enthron'd  with  the  blest. 


16 


TOO  LATE  I  STAID:  FORGIVE  THE  CRIME. 

WRITTRZt 


BY  THE  HON.  W.  R.  SPENCER. 


Air — "  The  slender  coat." 


Too  late  I  staid:  forgive  the  crime  j 

Unheeded  flew  the  hours ; 
For  noiseless  falls  the  foot  of  time 

That  only  treads  on  flowers. 

Oh !  who,  with  clear  account,  remarks 

The  ebbing  of  his  glass; 
When  all  its  sands  are  diamond  sparks, 

That  dazzle  as  they  pass  ? 


And  who  to  sober  measurement, 

Time's  happy  swiftness  brings  ? 
When  birds  of  paradise  have  lent 
The  plumage  of  their  wings. 

Too  late  I  staid :  forgive  the  crime ; 

Unheeded  flew  the  hours  ; 
For  noiseless  falls  the  foot  of  time 

That  only  treads  on  flowers. 


n    coca,  caoX. 

AX    rOT.\    CAOI,    TOE  (OAT 


17 


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18 


Slow  AND 

Qr  AC  ETC  LLY 


RO'ISJS  TitbtiVN. 


llOSK  DILLON. 


V»  V  AC  E 


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BITATTXR  JJl'IDHE  ACSA-S  AJS'   SJXX.U 'JI. 


YEIXOW   WAT  fc  THE  FOX. 


ON  SPIRITO 

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PLA^XIT  RE  ILLY. 


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m  *  g>  sflH 

^  ./• 

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Andantin o 
spiritoso 


TIAGH.VILVA    MHAIGHE  -E0 


0.-0- 


LORD  MAYO 


•  HL»  #  t  « 


Si 


'VT 


3E 


111- spiring  fount  of  chearing  wine    once  more  I     seetheeilow  FlelpmetDTaiseth 


— t 


lay  dninepro    pitiate  thy  May  -  o~   May-o 


-to 


May-o    whose  va  -  lor   sweeps  the  field  and 


swells  the  trump  of  fame,  May  heavens  highpowr  the  Champion  shield  a.id  deathless  hehis 
t.-^a  sae^  0  ^  m  b  \    I*      P    *P     »  .     riJ"^-  gg*L 


tF    t  ir 


"S7 


name,  Of  glory's 


21 


V 


INSPIRING  FOUNT  OF  CHEERING  WINE! 


A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  FROM  THE  IRISH*. 


Inspiring  fount  of  cheering  wine! 

Once  more  I  see  thee  flow : 
Help  me  to  raise  the  lay  divine, 

Propitiate  thy  Mayo. 
Mayo  I  whose  valour  sweeps  the  field, 

And  swells  the  trump  of  fame, 
May  Heav'n's  high  power  the  champion  shield .' 

And  deathless  be  his  name  ! 
Of  glory's  sons,  thou  glorious  heir, 

Thou  branch  of  honour's  root ! 
Desert  me  not,  but  bend  thine  ear 

Propitious  to  my  suit. 


Oh  !  bid  thy  exil'd  bard  return, 

Too  long  from  safety  fled ; 
No  more  in  absence  let  him  mourn, 

Till  earth  shall  hide  his  head  ! 
Shield  of  defence,  and  princely  sway  ! 

May  he,  who  rules  the  sky, 
Prolong  on  earth  thy  glorious  day, 

And  every  good  supply  ! 
Thy  death  his  days  would  quickly  close, 

"Who  lives  but  in  thy  grace, 
And  ne'er  on  earth  can  taste  repose, 

'Till  thou  shalt  seal  his  peace  ! 


*  This  song  is  very  ancient,  and  composed  long  before  the  time  of  Carolan,  by  David  Murphy,  a  poor  dependent  of  Lord  Mayo,  whom  he 
had  taken  from  motives  of  benevolence  under  his  roof,  and  whom  the  fear  of  continuing  in  his  lordship's  disgrace  after  having  incurred  his  dis- 
pleasure, incited  to  give  birth  to  one  of  the  finest  productions  that  ever  did  honour  to  any  country,  and  was  played  for  the  first  time  ia  Lord  Mayo's 
hall  on  Christmas  eve,  where  the  penitent  bard  had  concealed  himself  after  nightfall,  from  an  apprehension  that  the  most  humble  advances  would 
not  soften  his  lordship's  resentment.  [Vide  Walker's  Irish  Baids.] 


c<3 


BRANCH  OF  THE  SWEET  AND  EARLY  ROSE. 


WRITTEN  FOE  THIS  WOUK,  KROM  A  LITKRAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 


Z»T  Z>jc.  DREXXAN. 


Branch  of  the  sweet  anil  early  rose 
That  in  the  purest  beauty  blows, 

So  passing  sweet  to  smell  and  sight. 
Ou  whom  shah  thou  bestow  delight  ? 


Who  in  the  deny  evening  walk 

Shall  pluck  thee  from  the  tender  stalk? 

Whose  temples  blushing  shah  thou  twine, 
And  who  inhale  thv  breath  divine? 


\'   pllljl  US  H1A15^)CU. 


23 


\    PHXlTR  NA   MAlCTtblOK.  THOU   FLOWEB    OF  VIRGJXS. 


RAZIOSO 


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DlAUMAID    17  A  DTDA 


Df.rmot  o  novrn. 


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1  ilis ii  j.ri.i.Ar. v 


I.  A  K&HETTO 


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UlWTADM MK  THAR  AN  TItSTIAJiH  THE .  ILL  YOTUOW  YOl   ovilK  'rill':  \i<  >l  \  IAIN* . 


A  LL  EGRETTO 


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2V1ARBHXA  XO  Ct^\lT3A.           A  DEATH  SOKG 


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27 


YE  GOOD  FELLOWS  ALL. 


IMITATED    FROM    THE    ORIGINAL    IRISH    OF  CAROLAN, 


BY  BARON  DAWSON*. 


Ye  good  fellows  all, 
Who  love  to  be  told  where  there's  claret  good  store, 

Attend  to  the  call 

Of  one  who's  ne'er  frighted, 

But  greatly  delighted 
With  six  bottles  more ; 

Be  sure  you  don't  pass 

The  good  house  Money  Glass, 
Which  the  jolly  red  God  so  peculiarly  owns; 

'Twill  well  suit  your  humour, 

For  pray  what  would  you  more 
Than  mirth  with  good  claret,  and  bumper  'Squire  Jones  f. 

Ye  lovers  who  pine 
For  lasses  who  oft  prove  as  cruel  as  fair, 

Who  whimper  and  whine 

For  lilies  and  roses, 

With  eyes,  lips,  and  noses, 
Or  tip  of  an  ear ; 

Come  hither  I'll  show  you 

How  Phillis  and  Chloe, 
No  more  shall  occasion  such  sighs  and  such  groans, 

For  what  mortal  so  stupid 

As  not  to  quit  Cupid, 
When  called  by  good  claret,  and  bumper  'Squire  Jones. 

•Ye  poets  who  write, 
And  brag  of  your  drinking  fam'd  Helicon's  brook  •, 

Though  all  you  get  by't 

Is  a  dinner  oft-times, 

In  reward  of  your  rhimes, 
With  Humphry  the  duke : 

Learn  Bacchus  to  follow, 

And  quit  your  Apollo, 
Forsake  all  the  Muses,  those  senseless  old  crones; 

Our  jingling  of  glasses 

Your  rhiming  surpasses, 
When  crown'd  with  good  claret,  and  bumper  'Squire  Jones. 

Ye  soldiers  so  stout, 
With  plenty  of  oaths,  tho'  no  plenty  of  coin, 

Who  make  such  a  rout 

Of  all  your  commanders 

Who  serv'd  us  in  Flanders, 
And  eke  at  the  Boyne ; 

Come  leave  off  your  rattling 

Of  sieging  and  battling, 
And  know  you'd  much  better  to  sleep  in  whole  bones ; 

Were  you  sent  to  Gibraltar, 

Your  notes  you'd  soon  alter, 
And  wish  for  good  claret,  and  bumper  'Squire  Jones. 


Ye  clergy  so  wise, 
Who  myst'ries  profound  can  demonstrate  most  clear. 

How  worthy  to  rise ! 

You  preach  once  a  week, 

But  your  tithes  never  seek 
Above  once  in  a  year : 

Come  here  without  failing, 

And  leave  off  your  railing 
'Gainst  bishops  providing  for  dull  stupid  drones; 

Says  the  text,  so  divine, 

What  is  life  without  wine  ? 
Then  away  with  the  claret,  a  bumper,  'Squire  Jones. 

Ye  lawyers  so  just, 
Be  the  cause  what  it  will,  who  so  learnedly  plead, 

How  worthy  of  trust! 

You  know  black  from  white, 

Yet  prefer  wrong  to  right, 
As  you  chance  to  be  fee'd ; 

Leava  musty  reports, 

And  forsake  the  king's  courts, 
Where  duiaess  and  discord  have  set  up  their  thrones  ; 

Burn,  Salkeld,  and  Ventris, 

With  all  your  damn'd  entries, 
And  away  with  the  claret,  a  bumper,  'Squire  Jones. 

Ye  physical  tribe, 
Whose  knowledge  consists  in  hard  words  and  grimace, 

Whene'er  you  prescribe, 

Have  at  your  devotion, 

Pills,  bolus,  or  potion, 
Be  what  will  the  case : 

Pray  where  is  the  need 

To  purge,  blister,  and  bleed  f 
When  ailing  yourselves  the  whole  faculty  owns, 

That  the  forms  of  old  Galen 

Are  not  so  prevailing 
As  mirth  with  good  claret,  and  bumper  'Squire  Jones. 

Ye  foxhunters  eke, 
That  follow  the  call  of  the  horn  and  the  hound, 

Who  your  ladies  forsake 

Before  they're  awake, 

To  beat  up  the  brake 
Where  the  vermin  is  found ; 

Leave  Piper  and  Blueman, 

Shrill  Duchess  and  Trueman, 
No  music  is  found  in  such  dissonant  tones; 

Would  you  ravish  your  ears 

With  the  songs  of  the  spheres, 
Hark  away  to  the  claret,  a  bumper,  "Squire  Jones. 


*  Arthur  Dawson,  Esq.  third  baron  of  his  majesty's  exch.quer  of  Ireland,  in  which  kingdom  he  was  born.  H.s  f.Uier  was  principal  secretary  to  oce  of 
the  lord  lieutenants  during  the  reign  of  queen  Anne,  and  partook  of  tho  disgrace  of  the  Tory  interest.  [Vide  W  alker'*  Irish  Banii.] 

f  Of  Money  Glass,  in  the  county  of  Antrim. 


28 


O  LOV'D  MAID  OF  BROKA! 

FROM    A    LITERAL    TRANSLATION    OF    THE    ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  HECTOR  MACNEILL,  ESQ. 


O  lov'd  maid  of  Broka,  each  fair  one  excelling  ! 

The  blush  on  thy  cheek  shames  the  apple's  soft  bloom, 
More  sweet  than  the  rose-buds  that  deck  thy  lov'd  dwelling, 

Thy  lips  shame  their  beauties,  thy  breath  their  perfume. 

Come,  bird  of  the  evening,  sweet  thrush,  void  of  sorrow, 
Come  greet  her  approach  to  thy  flower-scented  thorn, 

And  teach  her,  fond  warbler,  thy  lov'd  notes  to  borrow, 
To  banish  her  coldness  and  soften  her  scorn. 

O  perch'd  on  thy  green  bough,  each  lov'd  note  delighting, 
How  blest,  happy  bird !  could  I  change  lots  with  thee ! 

But,  alas  !  while  fast  fetter'd,  each  prospect  is  blighting, 
I  would  rather  than  Ireland  again  I  were  free  ! 

But,  adieu  !  though  my  hopes,  by  thy  coldness  and  scorning, 
Fall  faded  like  blossoms  half  blown  on  the  tree, 

May  love  bless  your  eve,  though  it  blighted  my  morning,. 
I  would  rather  than  Ireland  once  more  I  were  free  ! 


U  1 1  Fear  i.lo  _\r  sr \  ejtj;. 


I  WOn.U    RATJfKH    THAN  IRKJ.AXlJ 


Andante 
a.  ffettuoso 


-=Tl   i'   .  !  - 

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O       lovd  maid     of       Bro  ^  ka     each    fair      one      ex  - 


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-  celling1    The   blush     on     thy     cheek  shames  the       apples    soft    hloom,  More 


S==i= 


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sweet  than  the     rose  buds  that   deck    thy  lovd      dwelling    Thy    lips  shame  their 


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Vivace 


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71 


AX  TliS  j:\VX  B  HE  ANN  BHOCHT. 


Till:     Oi.J>  WOMAN 


\  IV  AC  E 


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82 


ill  A  ft  If  DUE  MoRDlTA.  1U)UV  OMOOR;   KINC  (HI.I'IXS  M  \|u  II 


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jicavxcacc  in 

MAUCAIGRE ACllX-  Df  NEILL.    O  felLLS  CAVALCADE. 


P  R  F.STO 
Fx  R  I  O SO 


OS 


•  ^  - '  1 


Da.Capo 
ad  libitum 


Co»jjjiiinin  CeAjilmlAin. 


33 


( 'DMHSIIINXIM    (  lll'.AKIilM  I  AIX.  — 

1        -  1 


( '  AROLA  N  l-     C  ON  C  ERTO 


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A    CHUADII    LTiClir.    lAMIi  Llo.M. 


1.  ()\  r.    WW    Nl'AII  MK 


Andante 


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33 


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J'I.A.\(. siii.il  Mil  AG  rii'.iJTK 


1M,.\N\"TY    MAO  T'JUE 


\  L  I.  EGRETTO 
S  J'  I  H  I  TO  SO 


*      Far  hence  tohail  It    chief  1    >o  From  antic 


From  ancient  Kings  and  Heroes  spmngHe.  loves  fne  g<  inlets  mantlir.^  flow  "f !  e 


Harp  to  lis  -  tive  music  strung DearYouth  in  whom  our  souls  delight  "fny  valued  life  may  heavntTe  fend  For 


tliou  art  gen rous  brave  polite  Tin  friend  of  all  who  want  a  friend'lhe  social  goblet  pours  ftstidejfl] 


•  9- 


M  • 


4 


H  irp  resounds  in  measures  wiM  For  thee   in  whom  a      Heros  pride  I  -  nites  with  manners  soft  andmild 


1 1 


m  -    l 


35 


FAR  HENCE  TO  HAIL  A  CHIEF  I  GO. 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


Far  hence  to  hail  a  chief  I  go, 

From  ancient  kings  and  heroes  sprung : 
He  loves  the  goblet's  mantling  flow, 

The  harp  to  festive  music  strung. 
Dear  youth !  in  whom  our  souls  delight, 

Thy  valu'd  life  may  heaven  defend, 
For  thou  art  gen'rous,  brave,  polite, 

The  friend  of  all  who  want  a  friend. 
The  social  goblet  pours  its  tide, 

The  harp  resounds  in  measures  wild, 
For  thee  in  whom  a  hero's  pride 

Unites  with  manners  soft  and  mild. 


Oh,  valiant  chief!  thy  looks  bespeak 

The  noblest  soul  of  Erin's  isle  : 
It  blushes  on  thy  manly  cheek, 

It  lightens  from  thy  honest  smile. 
May  heaven,  for  thee,  brave  youth,  prepare 

The  richest  gift  it  can  bestow, 
A  heart  thy  every  thought  to  share, 

To  crown  thy  bliss,  to  heal  thy  woe. 
And  sure  from  Boyne's  slow  winding  stream 

To  Erne's  sweet  banks  and  sunny  tide, 
The  brightest  eyes  with  joy  would  beam, 

By  thee  selected  for  thy  bride. 


36 


O  SOUTHERN  BREEZE!  THY  NECTAR  BREATH. 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  JOHN  BROWN,  ESQ. 


O  southern  breeze  !  thy  nectar  breath 
Awakes  the  world  to  life  and  love : 

Strews  flowrets  on  the  plain  beneath, 
And  blossoms  on  the  bough  above. 

With  balmy  fervor  all  divine, 

'Tis  thine  to  tame  the  wintry  storm ; 

And  melt  the  icy  chains  that  twine 
Around  entranced  Nature's  form. 


To  scenes  of  hope,  to  bowers  of  peace, 
Where  once  I  knelt  a  willing  slave, 

Wave  onward,  thou  delightful  breeze  ! 
Thy  wing  ambrosial  onward  wave. 

And  mingling  with  thy  breath  this  kiss, 
Steal  silently  to  Morna's  grove, 

To  sigh  it  in  a  dream  of  bliss, 
On  the  dear  lips  of  her  I  love. 


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43 


IN  RINGLETS  CURL'D  THY  TRESSES  FLOW. 


FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 


BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


In  ringlets  curl'd  thy  tresses  flow, 

And  bright  and  sparkling  are  thine  eyes, 
Time  in  thy  absence  lingers  slow, 

When  measur'd  by  a  lover's  sighs. 
Had  sacred  rites  once  crown'd  my  love, 

With  bounding  steps  the  fields  I'd  tread, 
Oh,  grief!  that  we  no  longer  rove 

Where  Truigha's  lonely  green  woods  spread. 


Oh !  would  that  on  thy  bosom  laid, 

While  Erin's  sons  are  hush'd  to  rest, 
I  might  beneath  the  green-wood  shade 

Breathe  the  pure  raptures  of  my  breast ! 
Sweet  blooming  flower  !  thy  sex's  pride, 

To  me  a  guiding  star  thou  art, 
And  Heaven  itself  will  sure  preside 

O'er  love  that  fills  a  virtuous  heart. 


My  charmer !  let  us  haste  away 

To  Truigha's  woods  our  footsteps  bend, 
Where  streams  through  water-cresses  play, 

And  Uchais  lovely  plains  extend; 
There  holly  berries  glowing  red, 

With  nuts  and  apples  sweet  abound, 
Green  rushes  there  shall  strew  our  bed, 

And  warblers  chaunt  their  lov'd  notes  round. 


44 


THE  DEW  EACH  TREMBLING  LEAF  INWREATH'D. 

WRITTEN    FOE    THIS  WORK, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


Air—"  Nancy  of  the  branching  tresses." 

But  now  o'er  dreary  scenes  I  range, 
Where  once  such  beauties  shone, 
Yet  blooming  nature  knows  no  change, 

Alas  !  'tis  all  my  own. 
The  rose  still  holds  its  lovely  form, 

The  dew  still  sparkles  on  the  tree, 
But,  oh  !  the  smile  that  gave  the  charm 
No  longer  beams  for  me ! 


The  dew  each  trembling  leaf  inwreath'd, 

The  red -breast  sweetly  sung, 
The  balmy  air  with  fragrance  breath'd 

From  bow'rs  with  roses  hung: 
The  setting  sun  still  faintly  gleam'd, 

And  swift  and  sweet  the  moments  flew 
With  her,  whose  smile  too  artless  seem'd, 

To  hide  a  heart  untrue. 


ANNA  NA  GERAGITIH 

T 


"Udiia  ha  3ejtA0tb. 

  NANCY   OF  THE  BRANCHING  TRESSES. 


45 


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51 


TO  THE  BATTLE,  MEN  OF  ERIN. 

WRITTEN  FOR  THIS  WORK, 

BY  THO.  CAMPBELL,  ESQ. 


Air—"  Beside  a  rath." 


To  the  battle,  men  of  Erin, 

To  the  front  of  battle  go, 
Every  breast  the  shamrock  wearing, 

Burns  to  meet  his  country's  foe. 
What  though  France  thine  eagle  standard 

Spreading  terror  far  and  nigh, 
Over  Europe's  skies  hath  wander'd. 

On  the  wings  of  victory. 


Yet  thy  vauntings  us  dismay  not, 
•  Tell  us  when  ye,  hand  to  hand, 
Ever  stood  the  charging  bay'net 

Of  a  right  true  Irish  band. 
Erin,  when  the  swords  are  glancing, 

In  the  dark  fight  loves  to  see, 
Foremost  still  her  plumage  dancing 

To  the  trumpet's  jubilee. 


52 


THE  BLUSH  OF  MORN  AT  LENGTH  APPEARS. 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


The  blush  of  morn  at  length  appears, 
The  hawthorn  weeps  in  dewy  tears ; 
Emerging  from  the  shades  of  night, 
The  distant  hills  are  tipp'd  with  light ; 
The  swelling  breeze  with  balmy  breath 
Wafts  fragrance  from  the  purple  heath, 
And  warbling  wood-larks  seem  to  say, 
Sweet  Anna  !  'tis  the  dawn  of  day ! 

Yet  though  our  parents  now  may  frown, 

Some  pitying  power  our  vows  shall  crown  j 

Be  constancy  and  truth  but  thine, 

While  youth,  and  health,  and  love  are  mine : 

Then  shall  our  hearts  united  glow 

With  all  that  fondness  can  bestow  j 

And  love  extend  his  gentle  sway 

O'er  close  of  eve  and  dawn  of  day. 


Ah!  didst  thou  love's  soft  anguish  feel, 
No  sleep  thy  weary  eye  would  seal ! 
But  to  the  bank  thou  would'st  repair, 
Secure  to  meet  thy  true  love  there. 
In  pity  to  my  pangs  awake  ! 
Unwilling  I  thy  slumbers  break : 
But  longer  absence  would  betray 
I  met  thee  at  the  dawn  of  day. 


.73 


ElliGlftDHE   AN    LA E.    THE   DAWNIN'G  01  DAT. 


Andante 

SoSTENUTO 


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57 


'TWAS  THE  HOUR  WHEN  RITES  UNHOLY. 


WRITTEN    FOR    THIS  WORK, 


BY  THO,  CAMPBELL,  ESQ. 


Air—"  Peggy  Ban' 


'Twas  the  hour  when  rites  unholy 

Call'd  each  paynim  voice  to  prayer, 
And  the  star  that  faded  slowly 

Left  to  dews  the  freshen 'd  air : 
Day  her  sultry  fires  had  wasted, 

Calm  and  sweet  the  moonlight  rose, 
Ev'n  a  bondsman's  spirit  tasted 

Half  oblivion  of  his  woes. 

Then  it  was  from  a  Turkish  palace 

Came  an  eastern  lady  bright, 
She,  in  spite  of  tyrants  jealous, 

Saw  and  lov'd  an  English  knight. 
"  Tell  me,  captive,  why  in  anguish^ 

"  Foes  have  dragg'd  thee  here  to  dwell, 
"  Where  poor  Christians  as  they  languish 

"  Hear  no  sound  of  sabbath  bell  ?" 


"  Twas  on  Transylvania's  Bannat, 
"  When  the  crescent  shone  afar, 
"  Like  a  pale  disastrous  planet, 

"  O'er  the  purple  tide  of  war ; 
'*  In  that  day  of  desolation, 

"  Lady,  I  was  captive  made, 
"  Bleeding  for  my  Christian  nation 
By  the  walls  of  high  Belgrade." 


Captive,  could  the  brightest  jewel 
"  From  my  turban  set  thee  free  ?" 
Lady !  no ;  the  gift  were  cruel, 
"  Ransom'd,  yet  if  reft  of  thee. 
Say,  fair  princess,  would  it  grieve  thee 
"  Christian  climes  should  we  behold?" 
Nay,  bold  knight,  I  would  not  leave  thee, 
"  Were  thy  ransom  paid  in  gold." 


Now  in  Heaven's  blue  expansion 

Rose  the  midnight  star  to  view, 
When  to  leave  her  father's  mansion, 

Thrice  she  wept,  and  bade  adieu ! 
Fly  we  then  while  none  discover, 

Tyrant  barques,  in  vain  ye  ride! 
Soon  at  Rhodes  the  British  lover 

Clasps  his  blooming  eastern  bride. 


58 


THE  MOON  CALMLY  SLEEPS  ON  THE  OCEAN. 


FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 


BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


The  moon  calmly  sleeps  on  the  ocean, 

And  tinges  each  white  bosom'd  sail, 
The  barque,  scarcely  conscious  of  motion, 

Glides  slowly  before  the  soft  gale: 
How  vain  are  the  charms  they  discover, 

My  heart  from  its  sorrows  to  draw, 
While  memory  still  carries  me  over, 

To  cailin  beog  chruite  na  mbo ! 

(To  the  pretty  girl  milking  the  cow.) 


Ye  billows,  beneath  me  now  swelling, 
To  you  my  hard  fate  I  deplore, 

Though  far  from  my  oak-shaded  dwelling, 
Ye  bear  me  to  some  distant  shore  3 

Though  blood-thirsty  pirates  may  sever 
My  frame  from  thy  cot  roof'd  with  straw, 

This  heart  shall  adore  thee  for  ever, 
My  cailin  beog  chruite  na  mbo, 
(My  pretty  girl  milking  the  coxv.) 


Ye  breezes !  around  me  that  hover, 

The  tale  of  my  woes  ye  may  learn, 
And  bear  back  the  sighs  of  a  lover, 

Who  never  again  shall  return  ; 
For  next,  when  along  the  waves  fading, 

The  last  blush  of  evening  shall  glow, 
Those  waves  will  my  sorrows  be  shading, 

My  cailin  beog  chruite  na  mbo. 

( My  pretty  girl  milking  the  coxv.  J 


I  Al  I.  IX   l.l'.od    ("UJiUlTE    XA    MUO;  rTHE    FRKTIY    GIRL   M  IJ,K!\(.     I  I II  cow 


Andante 
capressivo 


The  moon  calmly  sleeps  on  the  o^cean  And  tinges  each  white  hosonnl  sail,  The 
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Hark  scarcely  conscious  of  motion  Glides  slow  ^  ly  be- lore  the  soft  gale'  IJov 
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vain      are  the  charms  they  dis- co-\er    My        heart  from  its  sorrows    to    draw  "Wlii 


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meniry  still    carries      me    ever  to 


pret  _  ty    Girl      mffk  —  injc  e«w 

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Ye      billows    beneath  me  now  swelling    To    you  my  hard  fate  I    de^  plore  Tho 


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^hird  Verse,     a  little  slower. 

ff  fli)  M  j  r  i  iV  ni  i-  r  '•  f^=^=^ 

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A.JACIIJSTRKAS  IXI  RlfUKJTll.VMHAIN. 


MADAM  JUDGE 


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[*LANTCrSTIGH    IV!    W \\ KEITH  AMI  1A I  X . 


Pla.vxtt  JUDGE 


Allegro 


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ri  imi  ('  LAE  SEARCH 


A  LESSON  FOB  THE  W.WiV 


Allegro 


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BRIfrHtD  XNION  XEII.L.    BK7DGET  O  NELLL. 


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THOU  BLOOMING  TKKAS  H5 E  . 


A  NDAKTE 

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3 


I       Country  he  signup  hen  at  twilight  repairing  To  wander  a-lone  bv  the  wn^d  -beaten  hill  But  the 


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day  star  attracted  his  eyes  sad  devotion  For  it  rose  oerhis  own  native     isle  of*  the  ocean  Wher 


*     oi.ee  in  the  tire  of  his 


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VT.J  ■  J.J.  !• 1  i-.r~f  .  r-ri-  J  ki?7;^" 


is  youthful  e-i  motion        sang  the  bold  Anthem  of    E  -  rin  go  bragh 


*  I  ,  ,  V    <.  lit    VI  IV  V*  J  ^  •         v.x    ^-  —  *  ■  «  w  *.  A  w  »     *.  »  O     |V       O  I  <J 

+-   V 


65 


THERE  CAME  TO  THE  BEACH  A  POOR  EXILE  OF  ERIN. 
BY  THOMAS  CAMPBELL,  ESQ, 

Air — "  Thou  blooming  treasure.'* 


There  came  to  the  beach  a  poor  exile  of  Erin, 
The  dew  on  his  thin  robe  was  heavy  and  chill ; 
For  his  country  he  sigh'd,  when  at  twilight  repairing, 

To  wander  alone  by  the  wind-beaten  hill  j 
But  the  day-star  attracted  his  eye's  sad  devotion ; 
For  it  rose  o'er  his  own  native  isle  of  the  ocean, 
Where  once,  in  the  fire  of  his  youthful  emotion, 
He  sang  the  bold  anthem  of  Erin  go  bragh ! 

Sad  is  my  fate  !  (said  the  heart-broken  stranger) 
The  wild  deer  and  wolf  to  a  covert  can  flee ; 

But  I  have  no  refuge  from  famine  and  danger, 
A  home  and  a  country  remain  not  to  me  : 

Never  again  in  the  green  sunny  bowers, 

Where  my  forefathers  liv'd,  shall  I  spend  the  sweet 
hours, 

Or  cover  my  harp  with  the  wild-woven  flowers, 
And  strike  to  the  numbers  of  Erin  go  bragh  ! 


Erin,  my  country  !  though  sad  and  forsaken, 
In  dreams  I  revisit  thy  sea-beaten  shore ; 

But,  alas  !  in  a  far  foreign  land  I  awaken, 

And  sigh  for  the  friends  who  can  meet  me  no  more. 

Oh,  cruel  fate  !  wilt  thou  never  replace  me 

In  a  mansion  of  peace,  where  no  perils  can  chase  me  ? 

Never  again  shall  my  brothers  embrace  me  ? 

They  died  to  defend  me  !  or  live  to  deplore  ! 

Where  is  my  cabin-door  fast  by  the  wild  wood  ? 

Sisters  and  sire !  did  ye  weep  for  its  fall  ? 
Where  is  the  mother  that  look'd  on  my  childhood  ? 

And  where  is  the  bosom  friend,  dearer  than  all  ? 
Oh,  my  sad  heart !  long  abandon'd  by  pleasure, 
Why  did  it  doat  on  a  fast-fading  treasure  ! 
Tears  like  the  rain-drop  may  fall  without  mea- 
sure, 

But  rapture  and  beauty  they  cannot  recall. 


Yet,  all  its  sad  recollection  suppressing, 
One  dying  wish  my  lone  bosom  can  draw  j 

Erin  !  an  exile  bequeaths  thee  his  blessing  ! 
Land  of  my  forefathers,  Erin  go  bragh  ! 

Buried  and  cold,  when  my  heart  stills  her  motion, 

Green  be  thy  fields,  sweetest  isle  of  the  ocean ! 

And  thy  harp-striking  bards  sing  aloud  with  devotion. 

*  Erin  ma  vournin  !  Erin  go  bragh ! 

*  Iteland  my  darling!  Ireland  for  ever! 


66 


ARISE  FROM  THY  SLUMBERS,  OH,  FAIREST  OF  MAIDS! 

FROM  A  LITERAL  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IRISH, 

BY  MISS  BALFOUR. 


Arise  from  thy  slumbers,  oh,  fairest  of  maids ! 
With  me  wilt  thou  wander  to  Truigha's  green  shades, 
Where  sorrel  and  bright  rowen  berries  abound, 
And  nuts  in  rich  clusters  the  branches  have  crown'd. 


A  bed  of  fresh  ivy  to  rest  thee  I'll  bring, 
The  blackbirds  and  thrushes  around  us  shall  sing 
And  there  with  unceasing  attachment  I'll  prove 
How  soothing  the  cares  of  affection  and  love. 


T.  DAVISON,  Whitefri»r», 
London. 


07 


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RUSTY  DANIEL. 


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